A man drank half a bottle of wine and several beers prior to crashing with three children in his car.
37-year-old Michael Pickles rolled his vehicle multiple times on a country lane outside Royal Wootton Bassett on Saturday evening (4 September).
He blew a reading of 95 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath at the roadside but in custody, refused to provide a sample of breath on the evidential machine.
Appearing at Swindon Magistrates’ Court this morning, the defendant, of Desborough, Swindon, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
Keith Ballinger, prosecuting, said police were called by the ambulance service to a traffic collision in Bushton involving a car that had hit a grass verge and rolled three or four times at 8.45pm.
Inside the vehicle was Pickle’s three children, aged between 18 months and 11 years.
The court heard that he’d told officers he was driving at 40 to 50mph and had consumed half a bottle of wine and a few beers before blowing 95 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath on a non-evidential roadside breathalyser machine.
En route to Swindon’s Gablecross custody suite, Pickles made a number of comments to the officers, including that he’d “made a mistake tonight” and “I’m so glad I didn’t kill them”.
But in custody, he refused – despite being warned of the consequences – to offer a sample of breath on the evidential machine stating he did not believe it was calibrated correctly.
His children were taken to hospital as a precaution following the dramatic collision, but luckily, they sustained only minor cuts and bruises.
Duty defence solicitor Charlotte Frizzell said her client had spent the day with his three children, taking them to a soft play area and a restaurant before returning home with some new toys.
It was while opening one of the new toys that Pickles cut his finger with a knife. Concerned he needed treatment, he arranged to drop his children at his ex-partner’s home.
Ms Hillier says the defendant had consumed some alcohol but did not think he would be over the drink-drive limit so securely buckled the trio into their car seats and left the house. He crashed just four miles from home.
The warehouse supervisor, who works in South Cerney, believes he may face losing his job because he may have to take two or three buses to get there when he is disqualified from driving.
District judge Joanna Dickens sentenced Pickles to 150 hours of unpaid work and imposed a 24-month driving disqualification. He will be able to reduce this period by six months if he successfully completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.
He must also pay £85 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.
