Caught drink driving on his way to work

Police on duty at 4.44am on January 27 stopped a Ford Focus on the A6, prosecutor John Cooper told High Peak Magistrates’ Court. They went to speak to the driver, Andrew Sie, and after opening the car door, noticed a strong smell of alcohol.

Sie, of Haddon Road, Fairfield, failed a roadside breath test and was taken back to the police station where he provided a reading of 57. The legal limit is 35. The 48-year-old admitted drink-driving.

Annis Rowlands, defending, said: “Mr Sie was stopped routinely, not because of any difficulties with his vehicle and not because of the manner of his driving. He was on his way to work and was just a short distance from that address.

“He is embarrassed and ashamed to be here. He had been drinking strong lager the previous evening but finished drinking at around 8pm and when he got up to go to work he felt fine to drive.”

Sie was fined £420, ordered to pay £85 costs and a £42 surcharge. He was banned from driving for 12 months.