An Eden Valley man caught over the legal alcohol limit after falling asleep in a car with the ignition on has been spared a driving ban.
Police located 20-year-old Aidan Atkinson in the driver’s seat of a Seat Leon which was parked in a layby in the Kings Meaburn area at around 1.20am on April 9.
“The ignition was turned on and he was asleep when officers approached,” prosecutor Lee Dacre told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court.
Atkinson provided a positive breath test at the scene with a later evidential reading showing 52 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.
In court today, he admitted a charge of being in charge of a vehicle with alcohol above the limit.
Defence solicitor Steven Marsh said Atkinson was a self-employed tractor driver whose work for a north Cumbria company took him to numerous farms. “As such, a driving licence is essential for Mr Atkinson for his work,” said Mr Marsh.
Atkinson, of Shepherds Garth, Great Asby, had met a friend and left his vehicle in a layby one mile from a pub where they had drinks. He returned after drinking three pints of lager, intending to sleep in the vehicle, and turned on the ignition to provide heat before falling asleep.
“He wasn’t aware that simply being in the car in the circumstances I have described would amount to a criminal offence,” said the solicitor.
“If he had been aware of that, he would never have come up with these arrangements because a licence is so essential to him. He said he would never have driven otherwise.”
Magistrates fined Atkinson and imposed 10 penalty points, issuing a stark reminder that any further motoring offences could mean a licence loss under the totting-up process.
“Clearly it is a very comfortable situation you find yourself in,” lead magistrate Sarah Bradbury told Atkinson. “It is a hard lesson that you are having to learn.”
