Police officers found a Wiltshire taxi company boss in bed surrounded by McDonald’s wrappers after he was reported for drink driving, a court heard.
Wiltshire Police received a phone call from the duty manager of the fast-food restaurant, off the A350 in Chippenham, at around 9.30pm on 7 August this year.
They reported that staff suspected a man, who was driving a yellow Mini at the time, to be heavily intoxicated whilst using the McDonald’s drive-through.
Officers were sent in search of the vehicle, later attending the address of the registered keeper – a Miss Smith – and discovered the pair in bed surrounded by McDonald’s-branded food packaging.
Crown prosecutor Siobhan Oxley said the defendant, 49-year-old Gavin Barnett, told officers: “I only went to get McDonald’s”, before providing a positive sample of breath.
In custody, he provided an evidential sample of breath reading 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Barnett pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit and driving without insurance at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 29 September.
The court heard how he was disqualified from driving for 20 months in 2017, meaning he would have to be banned from the roads for a minimum of three years due to repeat offending.
Representing himself, he said he drank two glasses of wine prior to visiting the fast-food chain, adding that he was “sincerely apologetic” about his crime.
Barnett, of The Gardens, Chippenham, is listed as an active director of Ezy’s Taxis Limited on Companies House, an registrar of companies in the UK. In court, he claimed he was unemployed.
He was banned from driving for three years, but he was given the opportunity to reduce this by nine months if he successfully completes a drink-drive rehabilitation programme.
Barnett must also pay a £200 fine, £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.
