A vintage vehicle seller has been banned from the roads after he crashed into another car while over the booze limit.
William Coates had been in a day out with friends in Newcastle city centre, which involved a meal and alcohol, when he got behind the wheel of his Toyota and stuck another vehicle on the Military Road, near Vallum Farm, in Northumberland. A court heard that police were called and they found the 20-year-old sat in the driver's seat before he confessed to having had a drink.
Coates, who owns his own business buying and selling vintage cars and their parts, was arrested after failing a roadside breath test and later gave a reading of 91mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood when the legal limit is just 80. Coates, of St Helen's Way, in Corbridge, has now been banned from the roads for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.
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Prosecutor, Claire Armstrong, said police were called to a crash on the Military Road on the evening of December 18 last year. "Officers arrived at the scene and found the defendant sat in the driver's seat of a red Toyota," Miss Armstrong added. "He admitted having consumed alcohol before driving then crashing into a car."
The court heard that Coates, who has no previous convictions, was arrested but, for reasons unknown, a blood sample rather than a breath sample was taken at the police station.
Charles Waddell, defending, said Coates had been out for Christmas celebrations with his friends in Newcastle city centre having left his car at the Robin Hood Pub, in East Wallhouses, on the Military Road. He returned to the pub in a taxi and had intended on staying at his uncle's, who lived nearby."
Mr Waddell said: "Unfortunately for him, his uncle had gone away for the weekend. He rang three taxi companies but it was late and he got no response. He decided he could either sleep in a barn, sleep in his car or drive home. It was a cold night and he made the disastrous decision to drive home."
Coates was fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.
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