A Narberth motorist who consumed three glasses of Prosecco before driving her partner and eight-year-old son home, has been handed a drink-driving ban in court.
Fifty-one-year-old Sarah Chappell, of Cold Blow, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to plead guilty to a charge of driving her Nissan Qashqai whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit.
Prosecutor Abul Hussain told the court that police officers followed Miss Chappell in her vehicle shortly before 10 pm on June 2, due to the speed she was driving.
“She was heading towards Cold Blow and turned into an unclassified road.
“They pulled her over and spoke to her. She was carrying a male passenger in the front and her eight-year-old son in the rear seat.
“Officers carried out a roadside breath test procedure which prove positive and the defendant was arrested and taken to Haverfordwest police station where she gave a reading of 57 mircogrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
“The aggravating feature is that she was carrying passengers whilst intoxicated,” added Mr. Hussain.
Defence solicitor Peter Rhys-Jones told the court that Miss Chappell had gone to a bar in the area at the Dingle campsite and was drinking Prosecco whilst her husband and her son played a few games of pool.
“She’d had two glasses and her partner and son decided to play one last game of pool, so she had another drink.
“Miss Chappell had no intention of driving home that night, but her husband’s back problem kicked in and she wrongly decided to take over the driving duties.
“She is a full-time carer for her sone who has a rare type of Leukemia, so there will be difficulties in transporting him to school if she is banned today, but she will get help from her father,” he added.
Magistrates disqualified Miss Chappell from driving for 12 months and fined her £160 for the offence.
She was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.