A Shrewsbury man who was found to be almost six times over the legal alcohol limit when he crashed into a petrol pump, has been banned from driving for three years.
According to the Shropshire Star, Robert Cairns was arrested on February 6, 2022, after the manager of the MFG site in Meole Brace called the police.
Cairns was in a Peugeot Expert van at around 10pm when the manager saw him drive into one of the petrol pumps. At his trial, the court heard that Cairns then reversed then went forward, hitting the pump for a second time.
The Shropshire Star reported that the manager was so alarmed by this that he ran across and opened the driver’s door and removed the ignition key. Police were then called and tried to speak to Cairns.
After a blood test, police found 471 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood and reminded magistrates that the legal limit was just 80 microgrammes.
The solicitor defending Cairns said his client was suffering with his mental and physical health.
In disqualifying Cairns from driving for 36 months, chair of the bench, David Silcock, said: “I’ve never heard of a reading that high. It is off the scale. Then to crash into a petrol pump - if that had ignited it could have been catastrophic. We all have issues but hitting the bottle is not the answer.”
As well as banning Cairns from driving for three years, Silcock imposed an 18-month community order and ordered Cairns to undergo 100 days of alcohol monitoring. He also fined him £584, including costs and a victim surcharge.
