Ravenshead drink driver tracked down by dog-walking cop

A Ravenshead drink driver was tracked down by a police officer who was walking his police dog, a court heard.
Mansfield Magistrates CourtMansfield Magistrates Court
Mansfield Magistrates Court

The officer was exercising the dog on Rigg Lane, in Papplewick, on January 21, when he became suspicious of Nils Morpeth’s Ford Transit Connect and thought he might be flytipping.

Prosecutor Robert Carr explained that the officer followed the van to Morpeth’s address on Church Drive.

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A test revealed he had 52 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Morpeth, 39, admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Friday.

Donna Pursglove, mitigating, said he had been drinking with a workmate, but there “had been an incident in the pub” and they went outside.

“He was aware that his friend had consumed considerably more alcohol than him and he took his friend’s keys,” she added.

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She said the inevitable ban would make it difficult for him to get to work as a construction worker in Barnsley.

“He doesn’t know how he is going to get to work,” she said. “He is hoping to find work closer to home, or find transport.”

Morpeth, who had no previous convictions, was fined £400, with a £40 government surcharge and £85 costs.

He was banned for 12 months, but was offered a drink drive rehab course which will reduce the disqualification by 25 per cent, if completed by September this year.