47-year-old Shawn Cooke, who took to the wheel of his Transit van whilst drunk to avoid a parking ticket, has been banned from driving for 23 months after smashing into several parked cars and fleeing the scene. As first reported by Island Echo, Police were called to Sandown Road – the main road connecting Lake and Shanklin – on 6th October last year to reports of a road traffic collision. Cooke, of Mayfield Drive in Newport, had smashed into a Ford Focus, shunting it 15ft into 2 other vehicles, but continued to drive his damaged motor towards Lake. His Ford Transit van was soon located by Police on Lake Industrial Way, with officers also finding a drunken Cooke sitting on a grass verge nearby. The 47-year-old was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after making roadside admissions, later providing an evidential breathalyser reading of 91 – the legal limit being 35. 
He appeared before the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court on 19th January where he pleaded guilty to drink driving and failing to stop. A pre-sentence report was requested. At a sentencing hearing on Friday (8th March), defence solicitor Michael McGoldrick said that the incident was out of character for the hard-working, family man, who had only decided to drive the van that night to avoid getting a parking ticket – something said to have been a ‘disastrous move’. Magistrates handed Shawn Cooke a 23-month driving ban and ordered him to complete a 12-month community order with 140 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay £85 costs with a £114 surcharge. The chair of the bench said:
“Excess alcohol can have a disastrous effect for you but also for others”.
