Mansfield dad drove home after daytime booze session with old pal

A witness saw Michael Bowers’ Nissan Almera veer across the white line and then clip the curb at a junction on Abbott Road, on November 19.

She followed him along Debdale Lane, where he also crossed the white line, to his home on Oak Tree Crescent, in Mansfield Woodhouse.

Bowers told police he had drunk a can of lager after got in. A test revealed he had 93 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Bowers, 31, who previously held a clean driving licence, admitted drink driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Friday.

Chris Perry, mitigating, said Bowers bumped into an old friend and drank four or five pints over the course of the afternoon.

“It wasn’t his finest hour,” he said. “He works as a warehouse operative and this will make life more difficult, and financially more expensive.”

Probation officer Mark Burton said the father of four didn’t consider his alcohol intake to be a problem.

Bowers was given a 12 month community order, with 80 hours of unpaid work.

He was banned for 22 months, but was offered a drink drive rehab course which will reduce the disqualification by 167 days if completed before May next year.

He was ordered to pay costs £85 and an £85 government surcharge.