A woman who drunkenly crashed her car after a night out broke down in tears in court as she told how a driving ban would stop her taking her mum for cancer treatment appointments.
Administration worker Mia Lavelle-Clegg, 23, tested more than twice the legal alcohol limit after she smashed her black Seat Leon into a parked car.
But representing herself at Tameside magistrates’ court, Lavelle-Clegg, of Stockport Road, Mossley, Tameside, said: “This has been a huge wake up call. I do drive a lot, driving to work and home.
“My mum is ill as well. She has cancer and I have let her down. I do take my mum to appointments and I help her with shopping. I just know that I have done really wrong. I am just sorry about it.”
Lavelle-Clegg came to the attention of police when she crashed the car at 10.45pm on November 9 last year on Mossley Road, Oldham.
The court heard officers believed she was under the influence because of her body language and a strong smell of alcohol on her breath. She then failed a roadside breath test, with subsequent tests showing she had 80 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35mg.
Pictured outside court
(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
Lavelle-Clegg, who admitted drink-driving, wept during the hearing and said: ”I made a really bad decision to drive home when I should not have done it. I have never done anything like this before.
“I was on my way home with a friend. I am aware I put at risk myself and others. I apologise for that – I don’t know else to say.”
Shazia Aslam, prosecuting, said Lavelle-Clegg’s car hit a vehicle parked outside a house on Mossley Road, Grasscroft.
She said: “The defendant admits to driving the vehicle at the time of the accident. She appeared intoxicated to officers, through body language and a strong smell of alcohol. The officers requested a roadside breath test. That was positive and she was therefore arrested and taken to Swinton Police Station, where two further breath tests were taken. The lowest reading was 80. She was then charged with the offence.
“The defendant has no previous convictions, she is of previous good character.”
Lavelle-Clegg, who works for a kitchen manufacturer, was fined £369, with £233 in costs and surcharges.
She was banned from driving for 18 months, but given the opportunity to take a drink-drive awareness course for a reduction.