Lesley Gillam at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates Court.
Suffolk: Woman who helped crashed drink driver was also over limit
By Emma Brennan
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
9:00 AM
A WOMAN who stopped to help a man who had driven his car into a ditch, has lost her licence after it was discovered she was over the drink-drive limit.
Lesley Gillam, 57, of Lynham Drive, Newmarket, came to the aid of Ryan Hoagland, 21, after he veered off Herringswell Road, in Kentford, on the evening of December 10.
Both were breathalysed at the scene and found to be over the legal limit Gillam had 68 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath and Hoagland had 79mcgs – the legal limit is 35mcgs.
The pair, who had never met before that day, both appeared separately at West Suffolk Magistrates’ Court, in Bury St Edmunds, yesterday.
Gillam pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol. Her solicitor, Michael Whatley told the court she had driven to a friend’s house where she intended to stay after a night out.
They had taken a taxi to and from the Apex, in Bury but when they returned, Gillam realised she had left essential medication for her thyroid condition at home.
She drove to fetch it, “not realising” she was over the limit.
On her way home, she saw Hoagland’s car in the ditch and stopped to offer him a lift.
However, a taxi driver, who was first at the scene, had already called the police.
They turned up shortly after and breath-tested both drivers.
Mr Whatley said losing her licence would have a “devastating effect” on Gillam’s life.
He told the court that she is a self-employed interior designer and totally reliant on her car.
Summing up, District Judge David Cooper told Gillam: “You could have just driven by on the other side of the road but you did not.”
In view of these “extremely unusual circumstances” he said he was banning Gillam for the minimum period of 12 months.
She was ordered to pay a £250 fine, plus costs of £100.
Hoagland, a serviceman based at RAF Lakenheath, also pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.
He told the judge: “I am just grateful that I did not hurt anyone.”
Judge Cooper praised his early guilty plea and his “attitude” toward the offence.
He gave Hoagland a 20-month ban and ordered him to pay a £250 fine and £100 costs.
