A top chef was caught drink driving when his car suffered a tyre blowout in Swindon.
Roger Williams, 35, was travelling home from The Maytime Inn in Burford – where he works as head chef – after finishing a shift in the early hours of 6 March this year.
But disaster struck his car’s tyre exploded, causing him to crash and block the entrance of a pub on Cricklade Road. As a result, police were called to the scene and the defendant was breathalysed.
After failing the roadside breath test, Williams was arrested. In custody, he provided an evidential sample of 50 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Solicitor Jonathan Lewis told Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (13 April) that his client, of Thornhill Drive, St Andrew’s Ridge, is a head chef who has “worked all his life”.
He said that Williams finished work at 1am before having one drink. He had a second drink when a colleague encouraged him because “it was his birthday”.
“He was astonished with the reading, given how little he had drank”, Mr Lewis explained.
Adding: “He does not have any issues with alcohol, nothing could be further from the truth.”
Mr Lewis said the crash was a result of a driver-side tyre blowout, rather than poor driving and that was confirmed by the attending police officer in their statement.
He said the defendant’s alcohol reading was probably higher than it should have been due to him having consumed very little food and drink during his working shift, and was dehydrated.
Magistrates imposed a 14-month driving ban, a £729 fine and told Williams to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £73 victim surcharge.
