Officer banned for drink-driving

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/humber/6733969.stm

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A police officer who runs road safety campaigns for Humberside Police has been banned from driving.

Pc Andy Walker, 51, was almost twice the legal alcohol limit when he was breathalysed near his home in Beverley, East Yorkshire, last Sunday morning.

He admitted driving over the prescribed alcohol limit at Bridlington Magistrates' Court on Friday and was banned from driving for 16 months.

The officer now faces internal misconduct proceedings.

The court heard Walker had driven home in his Jaguar car from a family party at a hotel in Hull when he was spotted having difficulty parking.

'Let it go'

He was breathalysed by a police officer and found to have 61 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

The court was told he had consumed two pints of beer and a glass of wine at the party. He waited for 30 minutes in the car park of the hotel for a taxi but when one did not arrive he decided he was fit enough to drive home.

Prosecuting, Alex Quigley said Walker had tried to get the officer who carried out the breath test "to deal with it in a different way".

I made a monumental mistake in my judgement... I have not led by example Pc Andy Walker

Walker told the officer he had only drunk one pint and he should "just let it go, you don't need to do this, I've been in the job 20 years".

In court, Walker said he was "flabbergasted and upset" when the breath test came back positive.

He said: "My employer Humberside Police has been severely embarrassed, I have no doubt, by my appearance here today and I apologise to them and I apologise to the officer who stopped me."

Outside court after the hearing, Walker said: "I made a monumental mistake in my judgement when I decided I was fit enough to drive."

He said he had campaigned on "many, many occasions" about the dangers of drinking and driving, adding: "I have not led by example."