A Belfast woman who crashed her car in Portadown whilst over twice the legal limit has been fined £250.
Niamh McCord, (25), of Cromwell Road, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged with driving with excess alcohol in breath.
The court heard that on February 11 of this year, police received a report of a single-vehicle collision on the Northway in Portadown.
On arrival, police observed a Mini in the right hand lane that was missing a front nearside tyre. They spoke to the driver who was identified as the defendant and a preliminary breath sample was taken.
The defendant was taken to Banbridge custody, where she provided an evidential reading of 81 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit in Northern Ireland is 35 microgrammes of alcohol.
A defence solicitor told the court that the defendant had been in Armagh celebrating her birthday, had taken a few drinks and made the “very foolish decision” to try to drive home.
While the defence conceded that the accident had aggravated the charge, they added that the fact that no other vehicles were involved “takes the edge off that slightly”.
They explained that the defendant had immediately admitted to police that the incident was her fault.
District Judge Bernie Kelly imposed a fine of £250 to be paid within 12 weeks and disqualified the defendant from driving for a period of 12 months.
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