Drink driver FIVE times over limit swerved into path of Sutton cop car

A drink driver who was more than five times over the limit when he swerved into the path of an oncoming police car in Sutton, has been spared a jail sentence.
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The officer managed to avoid colliding with Nicusor Tidose’s Fiat Punto, on Priestic Road, at 1am, on January 21, and stopped his car, said prosecutor Robert Carr.

A test revealed he had 181 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Tidose, 40, of Chatsworth Street, Sutton, admitted driving with excess alcohol, via a Romanian interpreter, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Friday.

Donna Pursglove, mitigating, said he had been to a party but “unfortunately made the very, very poor decision to drive home.”

“He says it is a one-off incident and that he would only normally drink beer, but he had been drinking vodka that evening,” she said.

“He says he doesn’t normally drink to excess.

“He is very very fearful of what type of sentence will be imposed today.”

Probation officer Sarah Phillips said Tidose had been drinking beer, wine and spirits since 6pm, and he decided to drive the one mile journey home.

“He accepts that he put everyone at jeopardy and feels very guilty,” she added.

“It does appear to be a one-off situation. He will be more careful about what he drinks in future.”

She said he was due to start a warehouse job next week.

Presiding magistrate Roger Faulkner said: “This is at the very top end of drink driving offences. We have stepped back from an immediate custodial sentence.”

Tidose was given a 12 month community order with 300 hours of unpaid work, and must pay a government surcharge of £85 and £85 costs.

He was banned for 36 months, but was offered a drink drive rehab course which will reduce the disqualification by 25 per cent if completed by March 2020.

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