Burgess Hill drink-driver ‘could have killed someone’

A Burgess Hill man who crashed his car into a hedge after trying to drive drunk to a services has been banned from the roads.
ENGSUS00120140801090621ENGSUS00120140801090621
ENGSUS00120140801090621

Peter Watters, 26, had drunk a number of glasses of wine and some beer on the evening of December 22, before getting into his Renault Clio to drive to the Hickstead Services on the A2300.

At about 10.30pm he lost control of his car, which did not have a valid MOT, and crashed it into a sign at the entrance to the services and then into a hedge.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When he was arrested, Watters was found to have 97 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of his breath - almost three times the 35 microgrammes legal limit.

Watters, of Victoria Avenue, Burgess Hill, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving a vehicle without an MOT when he appeared at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on January 30.

He was banned from driving for 24 months, told to do 80 hours of community service and ordered to pay a £50 fine, £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

Chief Inspector Phil Nicholas, of Surrey and Sussex roads policing unit, said: “Watters could have been seriously hurt or even killed in the crash - or could have killed someone else.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“When officers arrived he was clearly intoxicated, was unsteady on his feet and was having difficulty speaking.

“He is lucky to have escaped with just community service and a ban from driving because in other circumstances his selfish behaviour could have proved deadly.

“Drink-driving is totally unacceptable and we will continue to look for motorists like Watters who seem to believe that the law does not apply to them.”

A total of 55 people have so far been convicted after being arrested as part of Operation Dragonfly, Sussex Police’s December drink and drug-driving crackdown.

Related topics: