Drink-driver’s BMW bounced off barrier, hit traffic light and flipped onto roundabout

A driver who was far above the drink-driving limit smashed his BMW into a traffic light, causing his car to flip onto its roof, narrowly avoiding another vehicle on a roundabout. HGV driver Joseph Wormleighton had been out drinking with friends and was heading home when the crash happened on the A426 Blaby ^[1] bypass at about 7.30pm on Friday, August 9.

Wormleighton, 27, of Lowdell Way, Desford, pleaded guilty to drink-driving at Leicester Magistrates' Court ^[2] on Wednesday (August 28). The court heard he gave a breathalyser reading of 90 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Prosecutor Nisha Patel read out a witness statement from a passenger in another vehicle who saw the BMW coming up behind them at a speed well over the 50mph limit before its brakes were slammed on to avoid a collision. Wormleighton then continued to the next roundabout, driving "erratically" and "swerving on the road for no apparent reason" before crashing.

Ms Patel said: "The car went into the barrier, clipped it, went to the right and hit a traffic light and rolled onto its roof on the roundabout, narrowly missing another vehicle." She said the force of the crash had left the defendant lying in the back of the vehicle, but that he had managed to get out of the car without any serious injuries.

Rachel Gaffney, representing Wormleighton, said her client usually asked his mother for a lift home when he had been out drinking, but that she had been awaiting the diagnosis of an illness on the occasion in question, so was unable to pick him up.

Ms Gaffney said Wormleighton had not drunk since the crash, and was remorseful. She said: "It was just a foolish decision."

Chairman of the bench Elizabeth Needham told Wormleighton: "You're lucky nobody was seriously injured." He was banned from driving for 26 months and was given a community order for 12 months. He will have to do 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £85 court costs and a £114 victim surcharge.

References

^{^} Blaby (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
^{^} Leicester Magistrates' Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
^{^} Man pleads guilty to arson after Beaumont Leys flat explosion (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)