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Monday 13 May 2019

Drink Driver Drinkwater Disqualified


Such an alliterative headline would surely put the red-top tabloids to shame!

Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater has been banned from the roads after admitting crashing his car when over twice the drink drive limit.

The 29 year-old pranged his £125,000 Range Rover as he drove home along Ashley Road in Mere, Cheshire during the early hours of Monday, 8th April 2019. Drinkwater, who had two female passengers in the car, had been attending a charity event in Manchester earlier that evening.

Drinkwater gave a positive roadside breath test, which resulted in his arrest on suspicion of drink driving. A subsequent evidential breath test revealed that the footballer had 87 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, which is more than double the prescribed limit of 35 microgrammes.

Robin Sellars, defending, said Drinkwater was 'fully compliant' with police following his arrest and said he had been to a private function, which he was expecting a lift home from.

However, the friend due to give him a lift was unable to do so, so Drinkwater decided to drive himself back to his home in Bollington Lane, Nether Alderley, Cheshire.

"He only had himself to blame. He understands he's done wrong", said Mr Sellars to District Judge Mark Hadfield, sitting at Stockport Magistrates' Court.

"He absolutely knows he's going to be banned. He knows he's lost the privilege of driving.

"He instructs me he will be employing a driver."

Given Drinkwater's previous good character, Mr Sellars asked the Judge to consider imposing a financial penalty instead of a community order.

Judge Hadfield said: "The alcohol limit is around two and a half times the legal limit. You knew when you got behind the wheel of that vehicle you should not have been driving."

Drinkwater was sentenced to a 12 month community order with a 70 hour unpaid work requirement. He was banned from driving for 20 months and ordered to pay £85 costs and £85 victim surcharge.

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