Drink driver's cans of Stella joke fell flat with Mansfield police

Geoffrey Gresham's car was pulled over at 11pm on May 11 after officers received a tip-off he was over the limit, said prosecutor Becky Allsop.

They heard him crunch his gears as he maneuvered the car outside an address in Sutton and saw his eyes were glazed.

Although he managed to provide a specimen of breath at the roadside, he failed to complete the formal intoxilyser test at the station and officers said he displayed ‘verbal passive resistance’.

The sample he did provide showed he had around 88 mcgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath, when the legal limit is 35 mcgs.

Morgan Hogarth, in mitigation, said Gresham was a man of recent good character and had kept himself out of trouble.

"He accepts that he drank on the day. Regarding the ‘verbal passive resistance’, he was trying to make light of a bad situation.

"When asked ‘have you drunk anything since you were arrested?’ he said ‘they gave me three cans of Stella on the way here’.

"He has done his best to comply. He didn't refuse to provide," Mr Hogarth added.

Gresham, 43, now of Edward Street, Rossington, admitted failing to provide a specimen when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

He was banned for 20 months but a drink drivers' rehabilitation course will reduce the qualification by 152 days if it is completed before July 2022.

Gresham was fined £310 with £85 costs and a £34 surcharge.

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