Sutton drink driver may appeal conviction after being told he would win the case
A Sutton man who was banned for drink driving in Brighton may appeal his conviction after previously being told he would win the case, a court has heard.
Police officers watched Kevin Smith bang his car door against a skip while they were searching a building site where he was working at 8.30pm on July 19 last year, said Sanjay Jerath, prosecuting.
A breath test revealed he had 68 microgrammes of alcohol when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
The court heard Smith, aged 60, has ten previous convictions for 23 offences, including drink driving in August 2021 which makes him liable to an automatic three-year ban.
“This individual knows the road traffic laws,” said Mr Jerath. “He knows what he should and shouldn’t do. And here he is again behind the wheel, and under the influence of alcohol.”
Smith, who represented himself, said he had been advised to deny drink driving because the site was on private land.
But he was unable to attend his trial after suffering a heart attack six months earlier.
Police officers said because the building site didn’t have any locked gates it didn’t qualify as private land.
And, in order to reach the site, Smith would have to have driven on a public road, the trial was told.
The defendant said his health issues and the resulting loss of work had forced him into debt.
Smith, of Nesbit Street, Sutton, denied drink driving in August last year but was convicted in his absence in September.
On Tuesday he was fined £180 with a £72 surcharge and £620 costs. A three-year driving ban was imposed.