Drink driver found kneeling and screaming

A Spalding man has been banned from driving for 20 months after magistrates heard he had been found kneeling in the road shouting and screaming after crashing into a tree while almost twice over the legal limit for alcohol in his bloodstream.

Raimondas Raudonis, 28, of Edward Road, admitted driving with excess alcohol in his bloodstream and without a full driving licence when he appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.

Prosecuting, Jim Clare said that in the early hours of October 15, police were called to Edward Road where a BMW car had crashed into a tree.

He said they found Raudonis, who had been the driver, very drunk and kneeling in the road, shouting and screaming, while his friend, who had been a passenger, was lying in the road.

He said Raudonis continued to shout, saying “I want my theory test. I want my driving licence. I am drunk and I was driving.”

Raudonis was taken to hospital and a blood sample taken three and a half hours later, showed he had a reading of 146 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Mitigating, Suleman Baig said he had admitted being the driver, even though no one had seen him.

He said Raudonis had drunk as a self medication for depression and had been going through a ‘very dark time in his life’.

The court was told that since this incident, he had not taken any alcohol, had been to a doctor and was now on prescription medicine for his depression.

Raudonis was banned from driving for 20 months but was offered the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course, which will reduce the period of the ban by 20 weeks.

He was also fined £320 and ordered to pay £117 in costs and charges.