Drink driver from Ingoldmells banned for over three years

A 26-year-old man has been banned from driving for more than three years and ordered to carry out unpaid work for the community, after admitting driving with more than three times the permitted level of alcohol in his breath, just three years after being convicted of a similar offence.
News from the courts. ANL-190117-152828001News from the courts. ANL-190117-152828001
News from the courts. ANL-190117-152828001

Benjamin Beck of Anchor Lane, Ingoldmells, admitted driving with excess alcohol and without a driving licence or insurance, when he appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.

The court heard that Beck crashed his VW Caddy van into a metal fence outside St Peters Church in High Street, Ingoldmells at 1.30am on March 16 and then left the scene as the van burst into flames.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said police intercepted him down the road from the scene of the collision and he gave a positive breath test and was arrested.

He gave a reading of 114 microgrammes of alcohol, more than three times the permitted level of 35.She said Beck also did not have a driving licence to drive the van and had no insurance.

He told police he had been drinking in several pubs but his memory was hazy and he couldn’t even say if there had been someone else in the van with him.

Ms Stace said Beck had a similar conviction in 2016 when he had been banned for two years.

Mitigating, Mark Hudson said it had been the first time Beck had gone out drinking since his driving ban in 2016.

He said Beck had been diagnosed as an alcoholic when he was 19 and had referred himself to Addaction.

Banning him for 40 months, the magistrates also imposed a community order with a six month alcohol treatment order, 10 rehabilitation days and 80 hours of unpaid work for the community.

He was also ordered to pay a total of £400 in fines and £170 in costs and charges.