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Postie Christopher McKechnie crashed his works van into a stationary car while over the drink-drive limit. The 34-year-old drove the Royal Mail van into a Range Rover in Bucknall New Road, Hanley, at 10.40pm on August 11.
Police found McKechnie sat in the driver’s seat when they arrived and could smell alcohol on his breath. He provided a positive roadside breath test and was taken to custody where he was breathalysed and gave a reading of 62 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, against the legal limit of 35.
Now McKechnie, who has since lost his job, has been banned from the roads for 18 months at North Staffordshire Justice Centre. Prosecutor Suzanne Swindail said police attended a road traffic collision in Bucknall New Road, Hanley, at 10.40pm on August 11.
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Miss Swindail said: “It was believed one of the drivers was intoxicated. The driver of the Royal Mail van was still in the driver’s seat. He smelt of liquor.
“A roadside breath test was positive. He was taken to custody where he gave a reading of 62 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, against the legal limit of 35.”
The collision was captured on CCTV and showed McKechnie driving into the front of a Range Rover which had stopped on his side of the road. There were people from the car on the road at the time. But no-one was injured.
In his police interview McKechnie said he had been to a pub in Newcastle and had four or five drinks and got a taxi home. But he received a message from his girlfriend asking him to come over as her blood sugars were low. He did not feel intoxicated, got in the works van and drove towards her address in Bentilee. He momentarily looked away from the road and when he looked up the Range Rover was there and he drove straight into it.
McKechnie, of Waterloo Road, Cobridge, pleaded guilty to drink-driving.
Paige Morgan, mitigating, said McKechnie has no previous convictions. She said: “He has paid the price as he has lost his job. He now works for an agency in a warehouse.
“His girlfriend is diabetic. He received a call from her. His priority was getting to her as quickly as possible. It was a mistake. This is completely out of character for him.”
Magistrates fined McKechnie £350 and ordered him to pay £135 costs and a £140 surcharge. His ban will be reduced by 18 weeks if he completes a drink-drivers’ awareness course.
Magistrate Vicki Botham said: “You were that close to taking two people off this planet by you being drunk in that works van.”
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