A HAIRDRESSER from Tilehurst who was caught moving her car in a pub car park to avoid being clamped has been convicted for drink driving — but won’t be banned from the roads.
Emily Turner got behind the wheel to try and park properly in a pub parking space while almost three times over the drink drive limit, a court heard.
When the 39-year-old had arrived at the Spread Eagle pub the car park was busy and she had not managed to park in a designated space. At the end of the evening in the pub she was concerned by the signs in the car park warning cars not parked between white lines would be clamped.
Turner, who had booked a taxi to get her home to Rodway Road, in Tilehurst, was spotted reversing a silver Vauxhall Corsa, crashing into a step and getting stuck.
Sarah MacKay, prosecuting, at Reading Magistrates’ Court last Thursday, said police were called to the suspected drink driver at the pub in Norfolk Road, Tilehurst, and found Miss Turner sat behind the wheel on November 23 last year.
The mobile hairdresser provided a sample of breath that was 98microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Ben May, defending, told the court Turner had no intention of driving home.
He said: “On this night Miss Turner had parked her car in the Spread Eagle pub and wasn’t in a designated parking space.
“It wasn’t in a bay and she thought it may be clamped because of the signs on the walls and she decided to move it the short distance into a mark vehicle bay.
“A taxi was booked.” Magistrates at a hearing on Monday at the same court had ruled there were special reasons not to ban Turner from driving as the distance had been just a few metres.
Driving under the influence of alcohol usually incurs an automatic driving ban of a minimum of a 12 months.
Magistrates ordered her to complete 40 hours of unpaid work through a community order, pay costs of £85 and a victim surchage of £60, after admitting a single count of drink driving.
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