Drink-drivers - including Clifford Chambers man - prosecuted and banned from the roads

A 49-YEAR-OLD man from Clifford Chambers has been banned from driving for more than three years after he failed a roadside breath test.

Rikki Graham was disqualified for driving for 38 months and fined £807 after he pleaded guilty to drink-driving at Leamington Magistrates’ Court on Friday (12th April).

He was arrested at 10pm on 11th February on Shipston Road, Stratford, after being stopped by police and failing a breath test.

At court, Graham was also ordered to pay £135 costs and £323 victim surcharge.

He was one of eight drives who were in court on Friday on drink-driving charges.

This also included:

- Jonathan Cleaver, 38, of Frances Road, Harbury, who was arrested on 10th February after his Ford Transit got stuck in the mud on a business park on Ufton Road.

Police were called by a member of the public.

Cleaver later pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen for analysis and was disqualified from driving for 34 months and sentenced to a community order requiring him to complete 250 hours unpaid supervised work in the next 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay £135 costs and £114 victim surcharge.

- Twenty-year-old Stanley Lawrence, of Old Budbrooke Road, Hampton Magna, was banned from driving for 15 months and fined £400 after he pleaded guilty to drink-driving on the A46 Warwick bypass on 11th February.

He was arrested after officers were called to a single vehicle collision. Lawrence, who was the driver, failed a roadside breath test.

At court he was also ordered to pay £135 costs and £160 victim surcharge.

The drivers were arrested by Warwickshire Police during a four-week operation to remove dangerous drivers from the roads. The ‘Fatal 4’ operation targeted drivers who choose to drink or take drugs and drive, choose not to wear a seatbelt, choose to be distracted by using a handheld mobile phone whilst driving or choose to speed.

Sgt Chris McSharry said “Alcohol dulls the senses affecting your ability to judge speed and distance when driving as well as your reaction and coordination skills. Alcohol and drugs can also create a false confidence which can lead to an increase in risk-taking behaviour, which puts your life and the lives of others in danger.

“This is extremely dangerous and the opposite of what you need to be a good driver. Every one of these drivers has lost their licence because they took the decision to drink and drive.”

He added: “These drivers now have a criminal record that could affect their job and they will not be able to travel to certain countries.”