Alcohol social worker banned after boozy trip to shops

Jim Lowe’s Vauxhall Zafira was stopped on Castle Bridge Road, Nottingham, on the morning of Christmas Eve.

A test revealed he had 83 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Lowe, 45, of Woolmer Road, the Meadows, admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

Sarah Roberts, mitigating, said: “Ironically Mr Lowe works as a drugs and alcohol social worker. He is also an approved mental health assessor.”

She said he met a friend the day before and went back to his house where they drank home brew cider.

“He was told the cider was 4 per cent but it wasn’t,” Miss Roberts added.

Lowe woke the next day feeling unwell and drove to buy food.

The court heard he will not lose his job, but the inevitable ban will prove to be an inconvenience for him.

Lowe was fined £600 and ordered to pay a £60 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

He was banned for 18 months, but was offered a drink drive rehab course which will reduce the disqualification by 136 days if completed before December 2018.