Wigan driver too upset to give a breath test after road smash

Lucy Cook was driving her car in the early hours of the morning when she mounted a kerb and crashed into a tree.

Other news: GMP's drink-drive crackdown campaign sees more Wigan drivers chargedPolice suspected she had been drink-driving due to her “glazed eyes” and a smell of alcohol, but she failed to complete an adequate breath test on two occasions at the police station following her arrest.

Magistrates sitting at Wigan and Leigh Court heard that Cook, of Chadwick Street in Hindley, had been “overwhelmed” by the crash and had made “no attempt to interfere in the administration of justice”.

Defending, Martin Jones told the bench that Cook, 21, had been drinking at home and had no intention of driving, but felt sober enough to do so when asked to pick up her boyfriend from Wigan town centre.

Mr Jones said the shock of the arrest, and being put in the back of a police van, made Cook “more and more upset”.

“It is an explanation as to why someone who was initially cooperative then became obstructive,” he said.

Justices banned her from the road for 18 months, and imposed a six-week curfew between 7pm to 7am. She must also pay costs of £85, a victim surcharge of £85 and a fine of £170.

The bench told Cook: “I’m sure you appreciate the seriousness of your mistake. You are lucky somebody wasn’t standing on the pavement.”