Drink-driver had turned to booze after relationship breakdown

A drink-driver who was struggling after the breakdown of a relationship has been ordered to pay £315 and been banned from the road for 20 months.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.Chesterfield magistrates' court.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Thursday, December 15, how Maria Anna Castelluccio, 45, of Thatcher’s Croft, Tansley, had been driving from Matlock to Tansley when she was approached on Hurst Rise by police, outside a One Stop shop and was asked to provide a roadside breath test.

Prosecuting solicitor John Cooper said: “She was asked to provide a roadside breath test which was failed and she was arrested for drink-driving.”

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Castelluccio was taken to a police station and registered 248 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of urine which exceeded the legal limit of 107milligrammes.

The defendant pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol drink-drive limit after the incident on October 10.

Defence solicitor Ben Strelley said Castelluccio had come out of a difficult relationship and had been using alcohol as a coping mechanism.

He added that she has had medical attention for anxiety and depression and she has been on sick leave from her job as a school cook.

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Mr Strelley said: “She’s had a difficult period and she is ashamed and remorseful and saddened to find herself in court.”

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District Judge Andrew Davison accepted there had been no bad driving but told Castelluccio that the fact no one was injured was more by luck than judgement.

Castelluccio was fined £200 and must pay a £30 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

She was also banned from driving for 20 months but was offered the opportunity to take a drink-drive rehabilitation course which could reduce the ban by 22 weeks if it is completed.