Derbyshire: School alcohol advisor was four times over drink–drive limit

Marcella Restrick, of Lime Tree Road, Darley Dale, was “out of control” on a busy bank holiday weekend in Robin Hood’s Bay when her silver Toyota Aygo mounted a grass verge and struck two parked and unattended cars which cannoned into each other.

“She was seen to fall out the driver’s door,” Prosecutor Kathryn Reeve told Scarborough Magistrates.

When police arrived, she told the officers: “I will lose my job.”

A breath test revealed 134 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

The court heard Restrick started her drinking binge on a trip to scatter flowers in memory of her late partner.

The 40–year–old had come home in April to find him dead after apparently suffering an epileptic fit, added Ian Brickman, defending.

He said: “She works in schools as an alcohol adviser after going through a detox programme.”

The court heard her late partner was from Robin Hood’s Bay and Restrick visited the resort over the August Bank Holiday to scatter floral tributes over the sea.

She travelled with another woman and they planned to stay the night. They started drinking but then found they could not get a room because of the bank holiday.

They were driving to a nearby campsite when the accident happened at 7pm on Middlewood Lane, Fylingthorpe.

Mr Brickman denied his client had fallen out the door. She claimed the woman police saw was her passenger who had crawled out the driver’s side of the car before collapsing in shock.

Restrick, of previous good character, admitted drink driving,

Presiding magistrate Victoria Shepherd stood the case down for a probation report, saying she was considering jail because of the very high alcohol reading.

She said: “Your reading was extremely high. It was a bank holiday in a coastal resort and you were out of control.

“You have been teaching in schools to children about the horrors of drink and you of all people should have been aware.”

Restrick was banned from the roads for 32 months, and ordered to pay £85 court costs with a £65 surcharge.

A Derbyshire County Council spokesman said; “She could work voluntarily with one of our schools – but with over 400 schools it would not be possible to check.”