Drink driver banned from roads after smashing car into garden wall during booze-fuelled joyride

Neil Emmonds, 51, Clarks Fields, Morpeth, narrowly escaped an immediate prison sentence following a booze-fuelled joyride in Morpeth last year.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how police were called on the evening of November 11 by a shaken driver who had been struck by a silver Hyundai.

She had been driving through Morpeth when the car smashed into the side of her vehicle before driving into a garden wall.

Emmonds staggered from the car and was arrested by police at the scene.

He was breathalysed and blew a reading of 148ug in 100ml of breath – more than four times the limit of 35ug.

Emmonds was charged and appeared before magistrates in Bedlington on Tuesday where he was banned from the roads for 36 months after admitting driving whilst over the legal alcohol limit.

He was also handed an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months and fined £213.

PC Dan McGarrie, of Northumbria Police’s Motor Patrols Department, said: “Neil Emmonds was well above the legal limit of alcohol and clearly was not in control of his vehicle that night.

“The consequences of drink driving can be catastrophic and he should count himself lucky that his actions did not lead to a fatality.

“Too many families have been torn apart because of the actions of an irresponsible driver and it can be infuriating to see people still putting lives at risk.

“Emmonds has narrowly avoided prison and been banned from the roads.”

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