Storrington man admits drink-driving after rushing to help his unwell grandmother

Samuel Thompson, of Rowan Close in Storrington, was found to be over the drink-drive limit after crashing into a parked HGV on the A283 in Pulborough on August 24, 2020.

At Worthing Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (February 9), the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) Victoria Grey said Thompson had 156mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system. The legal limit is 80mg.

Ms Grey said the driver of the HGV reported being thrown out of bed in his cab at 11.27pm after being hit by Thompson’s Fiat.

Thompson then knocked on the driver’s passenger door, said Ms Grey, and told the driver ‘I’ve just crashed into your vehicle – I’ve been drinking’.

The police arrived, performed a breathalyser test and arrested Thompson, 23, for drink-driving.

Thompson’s defence counsel, Richard Finlay, said his client was his grandmother’s carer and, on the night of the offence, had received an unexpected call from her saying she was unwell.

His grandmother suffers from Alzheimer’s, said Mr Finlay, which makes communicating over the phone difficult, particularly when she is in distress.

Mr Finlay added Thompson had been drinking beer that evening as he was not expecting to leave the house, but did not realise he would be over the drink-drive limit.

“It was clearly an error of judgement that he does sincerely regret and it has affected him,” said Mr Finlay.

“The reason for the accident was that his car skidded and aqua-planed in the rain after braking. It is fair to say he has a good previous record, never had a drink drive offence before and it’s something that’s completely out of character for him.

“He’s not a drinker – whenever he goes out he will arrange to have a lift back or a taxi but unfortunately he’s taken the decision to drive under unexpected circumstances.”

Thompson was a self-employed builder by trade, said Mr Finlay, and a driving ban would ‘massively impact’ his job.

Thompson pleaded guilty to the charge and agreed to take an Aspire drink-driving course by February 4, 2022.

Chairman of the bench Ailsa Wood disqualified Thompson for 18 months, but said that could be reduced by two months if he completed the drink-driving course.

He was also fined £120 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £34.