A businessman who was more than twice the legal limit when he got behind the wheel of his Ford Transit van to travel the short distance home from the pub after Christmas drinks has been banned from the road for 17 months.
Library image | Photo © Avon & Somerset Police
Charlie Lougher, 44, appeared before Bath magistrates on Wednesday 7th January to admit that on 3rd December he drove with 77 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.
Lougher’s solicitor said that after having Christmas drinks at The Boot pub in Chipping Sodbury in South Gloucestershire, Lougher had planned to walk the “very short journey” home if he could not get a taxi, but had felt “under pressure” to get home to his partner so had taken the decision to drive.
Whether the police saw him by chance in Church Lane in Old Sodbury, or whether someone had tipped them off, “who knows”, his solicitor said, but Lougher had been pulled over in the road he lives in.
It had been a “wake-up call” to Lougher in reflecting on how he spreads himself too thinly in life as everyone relies on him, the court heard.
Being the boss of a dry lining company, losing his licence will cause a “big problem” at work.
Magistrates fined Lougher £350 and ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs and a surcharge of £140.
His driving disqualification will be reduced by 25% if he completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.
