Boozy mum nodded off at wheel with kids in car on A1 near Retford

A mum of two who hit the central reservation on the A1 near Retford with her family in the car nodded off when she was over the limit, a court heard.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.Mansfield Magistrates Court.
Mansfield Magistrates Court.

Namatirayi Mahachi’s Hyundai was found by police at 12.50am, on February 6, and officers found her, her husband and their two children, at a nearby service station.

A breath test revealed she had 47 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

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Mahachi, 39, of Grange Road, Royston, Barnsley, admitted driving with excess alcohol when she appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

The court heard she had previous convictions for drink driving in 2002 and 2007.

Tim Haines, mitigating, said she fell asleep at the wheel while returning from a relative’s birthday in Essex.

He said Mahachi, orginally a refugee from Zimbabwe, had led “a haphazard lifestyle” and was convicted of fraud, in 2007, while living with a “volatile” partner.

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Since then, her life had improved, he said, and she was now in a stable relationship, and worked part-time as a team-leader in a hotel while studying for a management degree.

She was banned for 38 months. She was fined £150, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £30 and costs of £85.