A12 drink driver banned from the roads after 'terrible decision'

Rebecca Davis was driving on the A12 towards Witham in her Fiat 500 on Friday, February 9, when she was involved in a minor collision with another vehicle.

After the drivers pulled over at the side of the road, the woman whose car had been hit contacted the police who noticed Davis smelt strongly of alcohol and was unsteady on her feet.

Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday how Davis, 40, was taken to a police station where she was found to have 124 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Ban – Rebecca Davis was banned from driving for 32 months (Image: Newsquest)

The legal drink drive limit is 35 microgrammes.

Recounting the incident, prosecuting barrister Ali Tarbun said: “The passenger in the car that was hit formed the opinion David was intoxicated.

“The defendant was taken to the police station where she stated she was on her way to collect her brother from Witham and had consumed gin prior to the journey.

“It was a busy road, albeit the traffic was slow-moving, and the defendant was attempting to drive some distance.”

Davis, of Hall Lane, Walton, admitted one charge of driving while over the alcohol limit.

Massimo Trebar, mitigating, said “a combination of unfortunate circumstances” had contributed to Davis’s offending.

He said: “The pre-sentence report refers to her difficulties in juggling with the competing demands on her time being sole carer for her mother, and this demanding job led to her using alcohol as a crutch.

“It is within that context that this one-off incident and culmination of pressures that she has taken this terrible decision to drive in these circumstances.

“She understands she has been selfish in her actions."

Defence – the court was told Davis struggled to balance the demands of her job and caring for her mother (Image: Newsquest)

Chair of the bench Daniel Pears told Davis: “This is certainly serious enough for us to make a community order.

“You have been pretty lucky because that is a very dangerous, very fast road and if the speed was higher, you would not be here, and you could have killed someone else.”

Davis must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and must complete an alcohol abstinence requirement and was fined £199.

She was also banned from driving for 32 months.