Drunk driver's Sat Nav confusion sparked crash in Worksop

Kieron O’Donnell’s white transit van collided with a grey Vauxhall Astra, at the junction of Babbage Way and Sandy Lane, at 9.45pm, on April 9.

He told police he had drunk seven or eight pints at a local pub and had no money left to pay for a taxi to his hotel, said Neil Hollett, prosecuting.

A test revealed he had 75 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

O’Donnell, 29, of Peckway, Rushden, Northamptonshire, admitted drink driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

He has a previous conviction for the same offence from 2015, for which he received an 18 month ban.

Nicola Thorpe, mitigating, said the self-employed floor-layer was working away from home and wasn’t familiar with the area.

“He was following the Sat Nav but it was taking him the wrong way and the next thing he knew he had gone over to the other side of the road,” she said.

“He insisted that the police were called.”

The court heard O’Donnell didn’t drink every day, but would binge drink with seven to 12 pints.

District judge Andrew Meachin said: “The way you are going, you will be going to prison if you carry on like this.”

O’Donnell was given a 12 month community order, with 12 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement to address his drinking, and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He was banned for three years, but was offered a drink drive rehabilitation course, which will reduce his disqualification by one quarter if he completes it before May 2019.