The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A man who took a taxi to get home after a night out then, ‘for some strange reason’ took out his work’s van and crashed it, a court has heard.
Piers Foster, 31, of Sharman Way, Spalding admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared before magistrates at Boston.
The court heard that he crashed the van into a telegraph pole in Pinchbeck Road, Spalding in the early hours of October 13 and then left the scene, but police arrested him later at his home after he provided a positive breath test.
Although he initially denied he was the driver, he provide a reading of 71 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, more than twice the legal limit of 35.
However, it was said he later in the day changed his mind and admitted he had been the driver and that after he had returned home after his night out, he had taken the keys to the work’s van and driven it.
Mitigating, David Swingler said it was a ‘strange set of circumstances’.
He said Foster had taken a taxi home ‘but for some strange reason – he has no idea why – he got his work’s van out and crashed it’.
Mr Swingler told the magistrates Foster had paid for the damage to the van and also reimbursed his employer for the cost of hiring a replacement van.
Foster, who had a similar conviction in 2010, was banned from driving for 40 months but was offered the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course which will reduce the period of the ban by 40 weeks.
He was also fined £760 and ordered to pay £161 in court costs and charges.
