Wigan van driver gets suspended prison sentence after being caught four times over drink-drive limit

A white van man who admitted to being at the vehicle’s wheel when more than four times over the legal drink-drive limit has been spared an immediate jail term.

Wigan and Leigh magistrates heard that 35-year-old Scott Darbyshire of Bolton Road, Ashton-in-Makerfield, was stopped in his van by a police patrol in nearby George Street on December 14 last year after raising suspicions about his capability to drive safely.

And when he was breathalysed, he gave a reading of a massive 153 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

The legal alcohol limit is 35 microgrammes of alcohol.

After pleading guilty to a single charge of drink-driving, Darbyshire was given a 16-week prison sentence but it was suspended for 18 months.

The bench told Darbyshire that he had been given a custodial sentence because of the very high reading, his erratic driving and the fact that he tried to evade police capture.

There is an alcohol treatment requirement to his community punishment and he must also complete 200 hours of unpaid work. A bill of £209 towards court costs and victim services was also handed down.

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