DORSET Police have charged 65 people with drink driving between December 1 and New Year’s Day as part of its festive campaign. The Dorset Echo has teamed up with Dorset Police to name and shame those charged and found guilty with drink driving offences over Christmas and the New Year.

The following are the first four from this area to be dealt with by the courts.

 

NATHAN RICHARD SMITH

A MAN was more than twice the drink drive limit the morning after spending a night out in Weymouth town centre.

Nathan Richard Smith, aged 26, of Doulton Close, Weymouth, was discovered by police in Doncaster Road, Weymouth, in a stationary Volkswagen Polo with the engine running at 8.14am on December 14.

He had drunk six pints of lager between 7pm and 3am the night before, Weymouth Magistrates Court heard.

Magistrates were told that Smith, a delivery driver, gave a reading of 88mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Valera said: “In the early hours of the morning Mr Smith had been in Weymouth town centre drinking.

“He picked his vehicle up and then decided to drive it to Doncaster Road.”

Smith pleaded guilty to drink driving.

Magistrates banned Smith from driving for 18 months, with a 134 day reduction upon completing a drink driving awareness course.

He was fined £200, ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £20.

SAMUEL BUNNEY

A CAR swerving across a Weymouth road was being driven by intoxicated Samuel Bunney, Weymouth Magistrates Court heard.

Police officers became suspicious when they saw the 25-year-old driving his Audi car down a hill in Weymouth at 2am on December 15 without any headlights.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Valera said Bunney, of Lindisfarne, Powerstock, was travelling at low speed and ‘swerving from the kerb to the white lines’. He was pulled over by police in Weymouth Way.

Bunney, who pleaded guilty to drink driving, gave a reading of 73 mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

Defending, Richard Griffiths said university graduate Bunney, who works for phone company 4Com in Christchurch, had made a ‘foolish mistake’.

He was banned from driving for 17 months, to be reduced by 127 days upon completion of a drink drivers’ course.

He was fined £345, ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £35.

JAKE ZAK MACKAY

A SELF-EMPLOYED carpenter admitted drink driving after travelling home from a bar in his work van.

Jake Zak Mackay, aged 22, of Sackmore Lane, Marnhull, near Sturminster Newton, was banned from driving for 17 months by Weymouth magistrates.

The court heard police stopped Mackay, who was travelling ‘at speed’ in a Peugeot van along Lodbourne Green, Gillingham, on December 15.

He gave a breath reading of 70mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

Simon Brimacombe, mitigating, said Mackay had been drinking at a bar and was supposed to be staying with friends, but his friends had left and his phone had run out.

“He had not been drinking for an hour or two before the offence and didn’t think he was over the limit,” he said.

Mackay was banned from driving for 17 months, fined £150, ordered to pay £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

STUART KNIGHT

A PORTLAND dad who crashed a car into a ditch on his way home from a Christmas party then ran away from the back of an ambulance has admitted drink driving.

Stuart Knight was helped by an off-duty police officer after he drove his wife’s Ford Ka into a ditch at Gould's Hill, Dorchester, Weymouth Magistrates Court heard.

Knight, aged 41, of Officers Field, was at his work’s Christmas party in Dorchester on December 6.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Valera said: “Mr Knight went into the ambulance to be treated and disappeared from the scene.”

Mitigating, Simon Lacey said Knight intended to leave his wife’s car in Dorchester overnight and go home in a taxi. Mr Lacey said: “He feels an overwhelming sense of anxiety which is why he came out of the party and decided to drive.”

After Mr Knight left the scene of the collision and walked back to Dorchester, Mr Lacey said, a woman at the train station noticed he had cuts on his head.

An ambulance was called and the police were then called.

The court heard Knight gave a reading of 71mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

The legal limit is 35mg.

District judge Stephen Nicholls banned Knight from driving for 18 months and fined him £350.

He was ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £35 victim surcharge.