Drink driver over three times the limit after leaving South Shields home of woman he met on dating app
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Northumberland man Mark Scott, 29, came to South Shields to meet a woman on Sunday, December 15, and was invited back to her place at 6pm for drinks.
South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard the pair met through a dating app and Scott stayed with her until the early hours.
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Hide AdIt was then that friends of the woman turned up unannounced to him, leaving him feeling uncomfortable and making the decision to drive from the scene.
Scott – who has a previous drink-drive conviction from 2016 – got into his Ford Focus, with the intention of driving only a short distance to find a place to park and sleep, the court was told.
But he was stopped by police in Temple Park Road, South Shields, with a breath test revealing he had 115 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than three times the legal limit of 35.
Prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “He’s seen by the police, driving somewhat erratically. He’s pulled over and says, and I quote, ‘I’ve had a couple’. It would rather seem to be more than a couple.”
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Hide AdA Probation Service report revealed Scott, who is a woodworker and driver but has lost his job due to his crime, had gone to meet the woman in a date arranged via a dating app.
They had returned to her home and the defendant had decided to drive only after “another crowd” turned up.
Judith Curry, defending, said: “Mr Scott apologises for coming to court for this again. It was a night where he hadn’t intended to drive at all.
“He didn’t want to stay. He had no intention of driving home, he was going to find somewhere to sleep. As a consequence of this, he has lost his job.”
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Hide AdAs well as banning Scott from driving, magistrates also imposed an 18-month community order with a requirement of 250 hours unpaid work, the undertaking of the Drink Impaired Driver Rehabilitation programme, and 15 days of rehabilitation work with the Probation Service.
Scott, of Centurion Way, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, pleaded guilty to the charge and was ordered to pay a £90 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.