Drink driver 'at a loss to explain' being nearly twice over limit in Mansfield

Steven Silcock’s Nissan Navarra was seen driving erratically and swerving over two lanes when he crossed the junction of Chesterfield Road North, at 11.30pm, on June 10.

A test revealed he had 64 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Silcock, 40, of Meadowside Close, Wingerworth, admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Monday.

Steve Williams, mitigating, said: “He is absolutely devastated. He says he has never done anything like this before and he is very much against drink driving.

“He is simply at a loss to explain it.”

He said the inevitable ban would have a “financial impact” on the family business where Silcock works, and he had offered to resign.

District judge Andrew Meachin said: “At the end of the day it comes back not only on you, but on members of your family.

“I will give you full credit for your prompt guilty plea.”

He was banned for 18 months, but was offered a drink drive rehabilitation course which will reduce his disqualification by 137 days if completed before June 2018.

Silcock was also fined £300 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.