Drink driver 'took off' on humped back bridge
A young drink driver took off on a humped back bridge as he tried to shake off police.
Matthew David Pierce reached speeds of 80 mph along country lanes in Mid Wales.
It was described in court by his defence solicitor Stephen Scully as "ten to 15 minutes of complete and utter madness".
Pierce, 28, a self employed heating engineer, went through red traffic lights and even "took off" on a humped back bridge.
But following a chase in the Llandrinio and Four Crosses area of Mid Wales he stopped and told police "I give up."
Mold Crown Court heard how he had five pints at his local pub, could not get a taxi, and took a chance and drove his works Peugeot van home.
But he panicked when he saw the police because his business and his employees relied on him having a driving licence.
He sped off and failed to stop for police who followed with their blue lights and sirens on, and flashed their headlights.
Pierce, of Orchard Croft in Llandrinio, who had never been in any trouble before, admitted dangerous driving on the A483 and the B4393 at 2 a.m. on January 11, and driving with 57 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, compared to the legal limit of 35.
Yesterday he was banned from driving for two and a half years and ordered to take an extended re-test. Judge Dafydd Hughes imposed a 52 week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and sent him on ten sessions of a "vehicle crime manual" course run by the local probation service.
Pierce was ordered to pay £440 in costs.
The judge said that he would not impose unpaid work or a curfew because he said that the driving ban meant that enough of a burden would be placed on the defendant's partner who would now have to help to drive him about.
