Drink-driver hit a parked lorry

A Buxton man who crashed his car into a parked lorry while more than three times the drink drive limit has been fined.

Police were called to the scene of an accident on Burlington Road at around 3.30am on April 23, High Peak Magistrates’ Court heard.

On arrival, they found a Ford Mondeo which had crashed into the rear off side of a lorry which had been stationary, prosecutor Jennifer Fitzgerald said.

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Initially, the driver of the Mondeo was not at the scene, but a short while after the officers arrived he did return.

The driver, Robert Crowther, repeatedly apologised to the police and failed a roadside breath test so was arrested and taken to Buxton police station where he provided two readings, the lower of which was 110. The legal limit is 35.

The damage caused in the accident was estimated to be around £2,000, Mrs Fitzgerald said. Crowther, 31, admitted drink-driving.

Steve Williams, defending, said: “Mr Crowther is a very responsible young man who works in the Merchant Navy. Any time he is on duty he has to be screened to see if there is any alcohol in his system which is a disciplinary offence.

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“That is the sort of discipline that ordinarily carries through to his personal life.

“On the night in question he’d gone out with his brother, he’d not seen him for some time and knew he was going to have a drink. He left the car at home. They went back to his flat and had more to drink.

“He decided to walk him home but then decided to drive. He can’t explain that. He was clearly drunk at that stage and any decision making was clearly affected by drink.

“In a couple of weeks he is leaving for Norway for four months. Any order will be extremely difficult.”

Crowther was fined £670 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £67 surcharge.

He was also banned from driving for 28 months.