Jail for Bristol driver who had 15 pints

A Bristol man who had been banned from driving five times got into a car having drunk 15 pints before crashing into another vehicle.

Plasterer Paul Pewsey sped on the wrong side of a residential road in Fishponds, forcing another driver to swerve, before hitting an oncoming car when he failed to give way.

The 39-year-old, of Fishponds Road, was jailed for 22 weeks and banned from driving for six years after Bristol magistrates heard he had already been convicted of drink driving five times and of driving while disqualified four times.

The case has angered members of the Campaign Against Drink Driving (CADD), with one mother of a drink-drive victim offering to visit Pewsey in jail to tell him about the devastation drink-drivers can cause.

Pewsey pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates' Court to being almost four times the drink-drive limit and also admitted driving his black Ford Escort on Snowdon Road on May 2 while disqualified and without insurance.

The court heard that Pewsey had started drinking heavily after his marriage broke down and his wife then took their four children to live in Australia.

May Li, prosecuting, said: "It was at 8.20pm when Mr Pewsey was seen on Snowdon Road. He was seen driving at speed and on the wrong side of the road and another driver had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

"He then failed to give way at a parked car on his side of the road and collided with a Vauxhall motor car travelling in the opposite direction.

"There was damage to both vehicles but no one was injured. Police arrived and he was unsteady on his feet and smelt of alcohol. A breath test at the police station recorded 133 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal drink drive limit is 35 microgrammes.

"He admitted drinking 15 pints and then getting into the vehicle and driving."

Sally Helliwell, defending, said that her client had got in the car after an upsetting argument with his girlfriend's daughter.

She said: "He was extremely upset about the argument and made an extremely foolish decision. His list of previous offences is truly awful but this is the first time he has had an accident as the result of his drink-driving and this has been a wake-up call and he fully appreciates what can happen if he drink-drives.

"Eight years ago his marriage broke down and he has suffered problems with alcohol and depression since then.

"He suffered quite a traumatic experience about six years ago when his wife and their four children went to visit her mother in Australia and never returned.

"He has basically been cut off from his children and it is something he has found very difficult to deal with."

Chair of magistrates Timothy Pursey told Pewsey: "You will go to prison for 22 weeks because we think these offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence is justified.

"This sentence is due to your history of driving with excess alcohol and blatant disregard of court orders."

CADD national secretary Carole Whittingham lost her 27-year-old son 17 years ago when his car was hit by a drunk driver travelling at 90mph on the wrong side of the road.

Mrs Whittingham said: "Quite clearly this is a dangerous guy who should not be on the road, full stop.

"My son was killed by an idiot like him."