Drink-driver caught on roundabout after a 'stupid' decision to go to the shops

A motorist paid a heavy price for a trip to the shops while he was over twice the drink-drive limit.
Pictured is Horns Bridge roundabout, at Chesterfield.Pictured is Horns Bridge roundabout, at Chesterfield.
Pictured is Horns Bridge roundabout, at Chesterfield.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Wednesday, April 25, how Christopher Paul Sutton, 31, clipped a kerb on Horns Bridge roundabout, Chesterfield, after he had visited a Tesco Express, on Derby Road, in the town.

Prosecuting solicitor Neil Hollett said: “It was in the early hours of April 8 when officers were called to an accident on Horns Bridge roundabout and when they got to the roundabout they saw a Vauxhall Mokka with partial damage to its tyres.”

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Sutton registered 74microgrammes of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath, according to the court, when the legal limit is 35microgrammes.

The defendant admitted to police he had been drinking in the evening and he went to the Tesco Express which had been closed and he was going to another store when he had clipped the kerb and damaged a tyre.

Sutton, of Church Street South, Birdholme, Chesterfield, pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol drink-drive limit.

Defence solicitor David Gittins said Sutton made a “rash, stupid decision” to drive to the shop.

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Magistrates fined Sutton £400 and ordered him to pay a £40 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months but this ban can be reduced by 19 weeks if he completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.