A blazing row with his wife led to a Wroxall man being found behind the wheel of his car whilst more than 4 times the drink-drive limit, the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court heard today (Tuesday).
Paul Roper, 54, of Brookside Crescent in Wroxall, appeared before Magistrates this morning charged with being in charge of a motor vehicle whilst alcohol level above limit – namely 154. That is 4.3x the drink-drive limit and was described by Magistrates as being ‘off the scale’.
Liz Miller, prosecuting, told the court that Police located Roper sitting in the driver’s seat of his blue Skoda Octavia vRS at 17:20 on 22nd December. Officers noted that the keys were in the ignition and the dashboard lights were illuminated on the vehicle, which was parked on St Boniface Down, Ventnor.
A roadside breath test was conducted and showed a reading of 149, which later increased to 152 on the evidential breathalyser at Newport Police Station.
Despite claims from Roper that he had driven to the beauty spot and drunk the alcohol whilst there, before falling asleep, Police did not locate any booze in or around the car. The court heard from Roper’s solicitor, Henry Farley, that the dad-of-3 did not intend to drive and was going to spend the night in his car.
Mr Farley explained to the court that his client was of previous good character and had held a driving licence for 37 years. He told the bench that things were going wrong in Roper’s life and that his brother had died in October, leading to a mental collapse and Paul being signed off work. The court heard that Paul previously carried out work at Vestas.
Paul’s wife of 24 years was concerned for his mental health and feared he was going to harm himself.
The court heard that it was Roper’s intention to drive home the next morning, pack a suitcase and be picked up by his brother and nephew to move to Wolverhampton in the Black Country.
Magistrates handed out 10 penalty points and ordered Paul Roper to pay a £733 fine, £85 costs with a £73 surcharge.
No matter what the circumstances he could have killed somebody , how can he not be
disqualified at least. Disgusting
Let’s hope your life doesn’t fall apart at some point. Nothing disgusting about a man at rock bottom.
you wouldn’t be saying that if he killed one of your friends of family
Just because you lose family members doesn’t give you the right to get drunk and drive a car….. He should of been disqualified and made to watch his car get crushed, harsh, no not really.
Well done Ron Ashcroft if that’s your name? but all the others same on every post by some bullshit name think they can say what they want get a life put your name and people might give it a look you idiots like the bloke of runs it tossers
Oops, being a doctor, maybe I can prescribe some special tablets, to help you chill. ( If that is your real name ). Sounds to me like you maybe on the rag ? X
I thought that disqualification was mandatory in a drink driving case, so why wasn’t it in this case? 4 times over the limit is a serious offence surely?
If you read the article he wasn’t driving. Some special snowflakes in this chat
Sorry, thought that being behind the wheel was enough to assume an intention to drive, therefore liable for disqualification.