A primary school teaching assistant narrowly avoided crashing into a police car after attempting to drive home drunk, a court heard.
Molly Carvey, 34, pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit when she appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court today (15 September).
Crown prosecutor Pauline Lambert said the defendant’s Peugeot 1007 swerved into the middle of the road, nearly causing a collision with an oncoming police vehicle just after midnight on 15 August this year.
As they turned around to catch up with the offending vehicle, the officers – travelling on the A3102 coming out of Royal Wootton Bassett – noted a tyre in the road.
They caught up with the Peugeot and found Carvey in charge. An inspection revealed a missing front nearside tyre, meaning the exposed wheel had been driven on for a short time.
She was arrested after failing a roadside breath test. In custody, on an evidential breathalyser machine, she provided a sample reading 82 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 milliliters of breath. The legal limit is 35.
The court heard the defendant, of Foundry Road, Malmesbury, has no previous convictions.
Tony Nowogrodzki, defending, said his client experience through the criminal justice system had already been a “dramatic punishment for her”.
He told the court she is a single mother of two children, aged 4 and 5, and works as a teaching assistant [at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Malmesbury].
“She’s thoroughly ashamed of herself”, he added. “She intended to take a taxi home, but like many people, she was tempted to drive home. The next thing was that she was involved in a road traffic collision and breathalysed by the constabulary.”
Carvey was disqualified from driving for 17 months, but will be able to reduce this by 25 percent if she completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course. She must also pay a fine of £120, costs of £85 and a £34 victim surchage.
