Pyjama-clad drunk driver in Wigan road smash

A drink driver ploughed into a garden wall after losing control of her car while driving to see her injured mother, a court heard.
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Samantha Hall had been drinking on December 1 when she received a phone call to say her mum had fallen at her Atherton home, and immediately headed to her house despite being over the limit.

In a hearing at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates’ Court, the 37-year-old, of Hag Fold, pleaded guilty to failing to stop after a road accident, failing to report said accident, and drink-driving.

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Prosecuting, Tess Kenyon told the bench how, around 3.15pm on December 1, police were called to reports of a road traffic collision in Devonshire Road in Atherton.

On arrival, they found that a Vauxhall Astra had left the road, collided with two parked cars and come to rest in a front garden.

The driver had fled on foot.

Neighbours told officers they had heard “an almighty bang”, and when they went to investigate what had happened, they saw a woman wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown getting out of the driver’s seat and walking away from the scene.

A male soon got out of the passenger seat and followed. Initial investigations on the vehicle found it was insured in the name of Samantha Hall, and soon after, her husband arrived at the scene, but refused to give officers any details, and drove off.

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He was followed back to an address on Devonshire Road, where police found Hall and arrested her. Back at the police station, she failed a breath test, providing a reading of 91mgs of alcohol on 100ml of breath. The legal drink-drive limit is 35mgs.

During her police interview, she told officers that she had no intention of driving that day, and had been drinking at her brother’s house. She received a phone call from her other brother explaining that their mother had had a fall at home, and she jumped in the car and began driving to the house.

She took a corner too quickly in Devonshire Road and left the road, mounting the pavement before hitting the two parked vehicles and crashing through a garden wall.

The owner of one of the vehicles reported that the damage was so heavy that they expect the car to be written off as a result.

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Defending Hall, Peter Moran said his client had “made the wrong choice” to drive. Following the crash, she “panicked”, got out of the car and walked the rest of the journey to her mother’s house.

A member of the probation service told the court that Hall, a carer and mother of four, had displayed remorse for her actions, adding that her priority was to get to her injured mother as soon as possible.

She accepts her actions could have had serious consequences,” the court heard.She is ashamed and remorseful.”

The court disqualified Hall from driving for 28 months, and imposed 200 hours of unpaid work. She must also pay £85 in court costs and a £90 victim surcharge.