Drink-driver gets 18-month ban after friend calls police when he drove car

Drink-driver gets 18-month ban after friend calls police when he drove car

1 December 2021

AN Annacloy student who was reported to police by his friend for drink-driving has been put off the roads for 18 months.

Ciaran Rowan (20), of Sufficial Lane, was also fined £300 at Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court on Monday after he was convicted of driving with excess alcohol in breath.

Rowan was found to be nearly two times over the limit when he was arrested on June 26.

Rowan denied he had been unfit to drive home, having drunk two beers, two ciders and a shot of vodka over a period of five to six hours while out with friends in Belfast. 

Rowan said he had parked his car at his friend’s Belfast home as he initially intended to stay there because he would be drinking. However, when he arrived back at the house after midnight, he decided to drive home instead.

He told District Judge Amanda Brady: “I made up my mind to drive home. I felt fine to drive home. I estimate that I had seven to eight units based on past experience as I had breathalysed myself before.”

He admitted that he and his friend had a “bit of an argument” as his friend did not believe he should be driving.

“I insulted him and he threw the keys at me,” he said.

Rowan said that when he got home he drank over half a bottle of vodka as he “was upset” about the argument.

The court was told police received a report from Rowan’s friend at 1.30am. When they arrived half an hour later they found Rowan outside the house petting a dog.

Officers said the car bonnet and tyres were still warm and they believed Rowan had only just arrived home. 

Rowan was arrested on suspicion of drink driving. When breathalysed he gave a reading of 63mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath — the legal limit is 35mcg.

Judge Brady rejected the evidence of two other friends of Rowan, who claimed he only drank only five drinks over the course of the evening.

She said: “I am surprised that anyone could with that amount of drink over an evening declare themselves OK to drive. To be honest, if you go out like that to drink with your friends, you shouldn’t even be thinking of driving.

She continued: “He decided to drive home. I think that was a very bad decision. Although he said he had only had five drinks and was fine, his friend, who had not been drinking, had been extremely concerned about his condition, so concerned that he actually phoned the police and reported his friend which was not an easy thing to do. But that tells me about the level of intoxication of the defendant at that time.”

The judge said that she did not believe the defendant’s evidence that he consumed half a bottle of vodka in the short time between arriving home and the police arriving at the house and convicted him.