Wath crash drink driver made “terrible and stupid” decision

A DRINK driver who crashed his car and was found by police told a judge it was a stupid decision that he would regret for the rest of his life.

 

Daniel Browning (31) crashed his car on Mill Lane, Wath, at around 11.30pm on August 7.

Mr Mark Hughes, prosecuting, said police found Browning’s vehicle lying on its side blocking the road and noticed when the driver was being checked by ambulance staff he smelt of alcohol.

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The motorist, of Dovecliffe View, Worsbrough Dale, Barnsley, was breathalysed and found to be twice over the legal drink drive limit with 72 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Browning, who admitted drink driving when he appeared at Rotherham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, told police he had consumed five shandies and a pint of bitter on an empty stomach at the pub with friends.

Mr Hughes said: “He said he could remember driving along Mill Lane travelling at 40mph and said he collided because an oncoming vehicle had its full beams on.”

Browning, who was unrepresented in court, said: “On August 7, I made a terrible and stupid decision to drive home, a decision I will regret for the rest of my life.

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“I fully understand the seriousness and expect to be punished.

“I am a hard-working family man who has recently been promoted and married.”

The defendant said he commuted to work from Barnsley to Sheffield and shared responsibility of picking his four-year-old son up from school, so being banned from driving would have a significant impact on his life.

He added: “Being arrested was the most shocking experience that has ever happened to me and I never want to go through it again.”

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Browning said he had never been a drink driver before and would never do it again.

The judge banned him from driving for 20 months, endorsed his licence, fined him £300 and ordered him to pay £85 in costs, a £30 victim surcharge and £150 criminal court charge.