R v Donnelly
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | LORD JUSTICE JAMES,MR. JUSTICE TALBOT |
| Judgment Date | 14 January 1975 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1975] EWCA Crim J0114-4 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
| Docket Number | No. 4372/A/74 |
| Date | 14 January 1975 |
[1975] EWCA Crim J0114-4
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Lord Justice James
Mr. Justice Talbot
and
Mr. Justice Michael Davies
No. 4372/A/74
MR. S. O'MALLEY appeared on behalf of the Applicant.
On the basis that we would give you leave to appeal, Mr. O'Malley, and bearing in mind what we propose to do, namely quash the order that he should take a test before obtaining a further licence and reduce the period of disqualification to fifteen months, would you be content that we should deal with this as the hearing of the appeal?
Certainly, my Lord. I am very much obliged.
Mr. Justice Talbot will give the judgment of the Court.
This is an application for leave to appeal against sentence. On 4th October last year at Kingston-on-Thames Crown Court, the applicant pleaded guilty to an offence of driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit. The learned Judge who presided fined him £200 with six months' imprisonment in default, disqualified him from driving for a period of twenty-one months and added, under the powers contained in section 93(7) of the Road Traffic Act 1972, an order that the applicant must pass a test of competence before he commences to drive. In addition his licence was endorsed and he was ordered to pay the sum of £44.60 prosecution costs.
The facts of the matter as appear from the evidence of two police officers were these. On 16th January 1974 at 2 o'clock in the morning, these two police officers were in a patrol car when they saw a Ford Capri motor car being driven along Queen's Road from Weybridge to Horsham. At a junction they noticed that it braked very sharply and then turned right without any signal being given. So the police car then followed. They managed to catch up with it. It was driven into a narrow road, a road which was described by the police officers as very twisty, but in fact having seen the Ordnance Survey plan of this area with a scale of 6 inches to a mile, the road is not twisty, though there are two or three sharp angle turns. But the road is narrow being about 14 feet wide. The Capri was driven along the centre of the road at a speed of about 40 miles an hour. The officers said that there were a number of private driveways coming on to this narrow road. They eventually caught up with the Capri motor car, which of course was driven by the applicant, when it reached his home.
When the applicant was spoken to, the officers noticed that he had been drinking. The breathalyser test was applied, and as a result of the necessary procedures, it was discovered that he had in his blood 229 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
This applicant is 52 years of age, a married man, and until recently, we are told by Mr. O'Malley, he had been in a job as a chartered accountant, but he has now left that firm and is now seeking other similar employment. It appears that he has been driving for a period of some 25 years, and that he has no previous convictions whatsoever. In those circumstances Mr. O'Malley has submitted that the fine of £200 was excessive as was the period of twenty-one months disqualification. He pointed out...
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