Ashfield woman caught four-and-a-half times over drink drive limit when she was pulled over in Chesterfield, minutes after she finished work

Deborah Halligan was spotted weaving down the road and followed by a van driver, who eventually took her keys away and called the police, Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court was told on Monday, February 8.

When breathalysed, she blew 155mg of alcohol to 100ml of breath, when the legal limit is 35mg.

Prosecuting, Jeanette Stevenson told the court: “A witness told police that she was unable to keep the vehicle in a straight line and was swerving all over the road. The vehicle rolled back and hit the owner’s van. He beeped his horn and then continued to follow her until she came to a stop outside the Stagecoach bus depot on Sheffield Road.

“He said she smelled strongly of alcohol, and he pulled over, took the keys out of the ignition and called the police.

“She had been at work in Chesterfield and was driving home and said she didn’t feel drunk.”

The 54-year-old, of Sycamore Avenue, Kirkby, admitted drink driving when she appeared before the court.

Mitigating, Kirsty Sargent said that Halligan had drunk heavily the day before her arrest, on November 30 last year, and had drunk immediately after finishing her shift, “topping herself up”.

“She’s been somewhat in denial about the amount of alcohol she has consumed,” she said.

District Judge Jonathan Taaffe sentenced Halligan to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months and banned her from driving for three years.

He also ordered her to complete 12 rehabilitation activity days with the Probation Service, and to pay £85 in prosecution costs and a £128 victim surcharge.

Sentencing, he told her: “This is a staggering piece of offending behaviour and it smacks of someone with a serious drink problem. Given that reading and the fact you had left work minutes before, you are clearly an alcoholic and you need to come to terms with that.

"You put your own life and the lives of members of the public at risk and how you didn’t injure yourself or someone else is a mystery.”

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