AN UNINSURED drink-driver crashed into a parked car while on her way to get a Chinese takeaway, a court heard.
Lauraine Moore, 51, had been drinking glasses of prosecco at a family function before getting behind the wheel of a Nissan X-Trail that she was not insured to drive.
Outlining the case at Workington Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Pamela Fee said police received a call from the North West Ambulance Service after coming across a road traffic collision on Bolton Street in Workington on June 27. The driver was ‘intoxicated’.
Moore, who had crashed into a parked car, told police that she’d had ‘a couple of glasses of wine’ earlier in the day. She told officers that her insurance policy covered her to drive other vehicles but this was not the case and she was uninsured at the time of the collision.
The defendant said the collision was due to her not being used to driving her husband’s vehicle. She was breathalysed and gave a reading of 53mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit to drive is 35mcg.
During police interview, Moore said she had been at a family function and had two glasses of prosecco. She then had a small glass of prosecco after walking her dog. She took her husband’s car out to get a Chinese takeaway and said her husband had told her she was fully insured.
John Cooper, defending, said: “The ambulance service were there dealing with something else.
“It’s a real shame. The distance she has driven is not significant. You are talking 100m there and back. The car she normally drives is a Fiat 500. She has taken her husband’s car, honestly believing she is fully insured to drive it. Her husband sorts out the insurance.
“There is no way she would have driven if she had known she was over the limit or that she didn’t have insurance.
“It has been quite a traumatic experience – her first time in the police station. She is a hairdresser by trade. A lot of it is mobile hairdressing, as well. She knows she is going to be disqualified from driving.”
Moore, of Blackburn Street, Workington, pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with alcohol level above the limit and using a motor vehicle on a public road without insurance.
Magistrates imposed a 15-month driving ban, to be reduced by 15 weeks, if Moore completes the drink-drivers’ rehabilitation course.
She was fined £250 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £100 victim surcharge.
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