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He had been drinking after finishing his shift but he then got back into the vehicle
A postman was more than five times the limit when he was involved in a head-on crash while in his work van. Mitul Patel, 44, had been working that day and finished his shift, drank whiskey and lager and then got back behind the wheel.
After the crash in Woodgreen Road, Northfields, Leicester, on the evening of Friday, August 15, Leicestershire Police arrived and breathalysed Patel. He gave a reading of 187 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
He was arrested and taken to a police station where he gave a lower “evidential” reading of 148 micrograms, which the courts base their sentencing on. He appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court for sentencing on Monday (October 13), having pleaded guilty to drink-driving at an earlier hearing.
Since then, a pre-sentence report had been prepared by the Probation Service as the offence has a “starting point” sentence of a year behind bars. The pre-sentence report recommended help for Patel with his drinking problem.
Prosecutor Simran Kaur told the magistrates: “When the police arrived they observed signs of intoxication, including Mr Patel being unsteady on his feet, slurred speech and a strong smell of alcohol.
“Mr Patel stated he had been at home from work when he drank some whiskey and Budweiser. He said he needed to move his van and started to drive it round the corner into Woodgreen Road.”
The court heard Patel, of Iliffe Road, Northfields, had still been wearing his uniform when he crashed the Fiat Doblo van into an oncoming vehicle on the narrow street. He told the magistrates he had since resigned after being asked to do so by his manager and was now unemployed.
Ms Kaur said: “The reading is in the highest category of your sentencing guidelines, which has a starting point of 12 weeks’ custody. It’s aggravated by the fact there was a collision.”
Representing himself in court, Patel said: “I made a mistake and that won’t happen again.”
Patel was banned from driving for three years and given a 12-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to take part in six months of alcohol treatment and to spend a further 10 days on programmes recommended by the Probation Service.
The chair of the bench, Gareth Roberts, told Patel: “This crosses the custody threshold but in light of your previous good character we have reversed back from custody.
“If you drive while disqualified, you will commit a serious offence and you may be sentenced to custody and disqualified again.”
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