Buxton woman drove car into wall after drinking lager following 12-hour night shift

Judith Horne, 57, of Newhaven Farm, Buxton, had been travelling home in her silver Mini when she hit the wall on the A5012 in Matlock on October 1, Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court was told on Tuesday, January 14.

Prosecuting, Becky Allsop said: “Officers attended a single vehicle collision. She accepted that she was the driver of the Mini and that she had driven into a dry-stone wall.

“She says that she had a can of lager earlier in the day, then did some work, and had a couple more lagers and had driven home.”

When tested, Horne had 112 milligrammes of alcohol to 100 millilitres of blood, when the legal limit is 80.

Speaking in her own defence, Horne said: “I had just finished a 12-hour night shift, I hadn’t slept or had anything to eat and I just thought a couple would be fine.”

She added that she had had her contract terminated following the incident.

She admitted drink driving and was banned for 38 months as it was her second disqualification - although she was also offered a drink drive rehabilitation course, which would reduce the ban by a third if completed by March 2022.

She was also fined £138, and ordered to pay £85 in prosecution costs and a £32 victim surcharge.