David Walley, 50, of La Route de Farras, Forest, admitted the drink-drive offence when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court. He was one of three drivers convicted of the offence in one court session this week.
The court was told how he had had driven along Route des Cornus in the direction of Rue Maze. He signalled at the traffic lights suggesting he intended to turn right into Le Grand Courtil, but drove straight on, and his car collided with another that was turning right out of Les Caches.
Both vehicles were extensively damaged and the airbags deployed. The rear wheels of the defendant’s car were seen to leave the ground before it collided with a wall.
The driver of the other car had an 18-month-old baby in the vehicle. Police officers who had been dealing with another matter at Le Grand Courtil were on the scene straight away after hearing a bang. They saw smoke coming from both cars.
The driver of the other vehicle had injured her finger and the baby had been hit on the head, which caused bruising.
Walley failed a roadside breath test and an evidential one at the Police Station showed 81mcg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of his breath when the legal limit is 35.
Defending, Advocate Mark Dunster said his client had had personal issues in his life at the time and had just lost his job.
Judge Gary Perry said he could treat the defendant as a man of previously good character and had read the references provided.
But this had been a high breath reading and there had been a collision.
There had been an increase in this type of offending which was why the penalties had gone up. He said, regrettably, he thought it was only a matter of time before a fatality would come from an incident of drink-driving.
Walley was fined £1,200 and banned from driving for three-and-a-half years.