Van driver hit two cars in Mansfield while FIVE times over the limit on vodka

A drink driver who downed vodka on his way to Mansfield and was nearly five times over the legal limit when police found him has been locked up.
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Police were called after James Castelow hit two parked cars trying to carry out a three-point turn in his van on Murray Street, Mansfield, at 10pm on March 22.

Prosecutor Anna Pierrepoint said the service engineer consumed the vodka while driving from Birmingham to Mansfield, where he planned to sleep in his van, but he was moved on by a private security guard.

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A test at the roadside revealed he had 205 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

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“He was taken to hospital because of concerns about his intoxication,” said prosecutor Anna Pierrepoint.

At the hospital a test showed he had 371 milligrammes of alcohol, in 100 millilitres of blood, when the legal limit is 80 milliligrammes.

The court heard he was convicted of drink driving in 2005 and 2006, resulting in a 45 month ban and a four year prison sentence.

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Chris Perry, mitigating, said Castelow had “got to the point where he is drinking himself to death.”

“His life is realistically in peril unless he can make the changes.”

Castelow, 42, of Warwick Road, Scunthorpe, admitted drink driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

Probation officer Greta Percival said he drinks half a bottle of vodka on waking up and sometimes drinks for 15 or 16 days, until he makes himself ill and spends two to three days in bed.

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District judge Jonathan Taaffe told him: “This is a staggering case. In nearly 30 years of experience in the criminal justice system I have never come across readings of this level.

“It is indicative of the fact you have an alcohol addiction and that you have been able to function with it.

“What’s staggering is that you’re still here with us today.

“My primary duty in this couse is to protect members of the public. People who drive with that level of alcohol will go to prison.”

He gave Castelow 12 weeks in prison and ordered him to pay a £115 government surcharge.

Castelow was banned for 61 months.