Mansfield drink-driver stopped by police as he pulled out of pub car park

Magistrates heard Dean Allsop’s blue Vauxhall Combi van was pulled over on Sherwood Street, Warsop, because he was driving without lights.

Andrew Conboy, prosecuting, said a test revealed he had 99 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35mcg – after he was stopped on Sunday, August 22, at about 7.30pm.

Probation officer Greta Percival told the court that Allsop, aged 50, had been chatting with locals at the British Legion and got ‘carried away’.

She said: “He got in the vehicle without thinking.”

The court heard Allsop has suffered from depression after his marriage ended and describes himself as ‘alcohol dependent’, but has reduced his intake.

Treve Lander, mitigating, said the self-employed plumber's business had suffered over the last few years, and he was now looking to do something else.

The court heard he has no previous convictions.

Allsop, of Little John Avenue, Warsop, admitted drink-driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court.

He was banned from driving for two years, given a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay a £95 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

Magistrates told him: “Hopefully it was a one-off and you won’t be repeating the offence.”

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