Police said a drink driver who had failed to indicate at a roundabout was unsteady on his feet when asked to get out of his vehicle.
But a solicitor told a court on Tuesday (April 5) that his 63-year-old client was unsteady on his feet entering court ‘never mind when he has had a drink’.
It was down to illness, said defending solicitor Phillip Lloyd Jones.
David John Cobain, of Nantwich Road in Great Sutton, admitted driving with 52 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath compared to the legal limit of 35, at 1.25pm on March 21.
Fundraising event
Flintshire magistrates’ court at Mold heard how he had been drinking the night before at a fundraising event for the Families of Hillsborough charity.
He was banned from driving for a year, fined £415 with £85 costs and he was ordered to pay a £42 surcharge.
Prosecutor Rhian Jackson said police in a marked car saw him exit a roundabout near Broughton Shopping Park without indicating. He was stopped on a slip road of the A55 and an officer could smell intoxicants through the open window.
When he was asked to get out of his car the officer said he appeared drunk, his eyes were glazed and he was unsteady on his feet.
Positive breath test
He provided a positive breath test and later blew a reading of 52 microgrammes at Wrexham police station.
Mr Lloyd Jones said his client was not a regular drinker but had taken wine and cider at the fundraising event the previous evening.
Cobain was someone who used to run marathons and was normally a fit man but a medical report showed the problems he now had.
However, it was his intention to cycle the 11 miles to work and the 11 miles back when the inevitable driving ban was imposed.
“The mistake he made is that he did not indicate to turn left. There were no other complaints about his manner of driving,” he said.
