Drunk Mansfield Woodhouse man rear-ended van in Derbyshire road as he drove his girlfriend home from a trip to Chester

Oliver Astill hit the vehicle in the Dronfield area of Derbyshire on June 10 this year, Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court was told on Monday, September 21.

Prosecuting, Ben Payne told the court that a woman in a taxi heading in the opposite direction saw Astill swerve into the vehicle and spin into the other lane, causing the vehicle she was travelling in to swerve.

The witness described seeing the vehicle driving too close to vehicles parked on the side of the road when there was plenty of space to give them more room.

The sound of the collision also woke the van’s owner who went outside where the 25-year-old admitted the offence.

He said: “The defendant was standing at the bottom of his drive, and he told him he had driven into his van, causing damage to the rear of the vehicle and a flat tyre.

“The defendant waited at the scene until the police arrived and he said he had shared about half a bottle of vodka with his girlfriend before driving back from Chester to Mansfield where he lives.”

Astill, of Portland Crescent, Mansfield Woodhouse, blew 89mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, when the legal limit is 35mg, making him more than two-and-a-half times over the threshold.

He admitted drink-driving when he appeared before the court.

Speaking in his own defence, Astill said: “I was looking at the sat nav and as I looked up I saw the van. My girlfriend was with me. I’m sorry, it was all my fault.”

The window fitter added that he didn’t yet know what the financial implications of a driving ban would be on him.

Magistrates banned him from the roads for 22 months, but offered him a drink-drive awareness course, which would reduce the disqualification by 24 weeks, if completed by December 4, 2021.

He was also fined £400 and ordered to pay £85 in prosecution costs and a £40 victim surcharge.

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