Drink driver drove on wrong side of road in front of police

When the officer pulled him over, Jonathan Matthew Lister, 28, twice described his actions as a “whoopsie”, said Jane Chadwick, prosecuting.

The gas engineer was nearly four times the drink drive limit.

Lister told York Magistrates Court about alcohol: “I don’t see it as a problem for myself, to be honest,” but accepted he had had too much to drink that evening.

District judge Adrian Lower told him: “It is a matter of entirely good luck and certainly no judgement on your part you didn’t collide with another road user or pedestrian.

“Drinking and driving kills people. It does so every day of the week.

“Trying to sort out problems in your life by drinking too much is no answer. It simply makes a bad situation worse.”

Lister, of Badgers Way, Cliffe, pleaded guilty to drink driving, his first conviction.

He was banned from driving for three years and given a 12-month community order with 25 days’ rehabilitative activities and 200 hours’ unpaid work. He must also pay a £90 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

Because the breath test reading was so high, the DVLA may require him to pass a medical exam to prove he doesn’t have an alcohol problem before allowing him to have another licence.

Lister, who represented himself, told the court his employer was willing to keep him on and arrange for him to get to jobs.

“You are a very lucky man if that is true,” the district judge told him.

Mrs Chadwick said the police officer saw Lister pull out onto the A63 near Selby at 10.20pm on November 28.

Because of the way he was driving, they pulled him over and gave him a breath test.

The reading was 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Lister said he had been struggling with depression for some time and with the break-up of his relationship for some months. He was taking prescription medicine and was on an NHS waiting list for counselling.