A man and a woman who were both drunk took turns driving a car through a city streets, with her sitting on his lap.
Mark Coleman, 46, and Gemma Moore, 30, took to the streets in a Hyundai Sonata with Coleman initially behind the wheel and Moore leaning over to drive.
After a while she climbed onto his lap and they drove together and smashed into a road sign before being arrested in June.
Ian Graham, prosecuting, said two other people were in the car as it was driven erratically around the Hoe in Plymouth, Devon just before 7pm.
Judge Ian Lawrie said: “Even more worrying than having one drunken person in charge of a car, there were two drunk people because Gemma Moore was in your lap.
“You drove a significant distance along busy city streets which circle the Hoe. You hit a piece of road furniture.”
A breath test found Coleman was almost three and a half times over the drink-drive limit with 114 mgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Coleman, from Plymouth, Devon, admitted dangerous driving, drink-driving and failing to stop after a road accident where damage was caused.
Katie Churcher, for Coleman, said he was a fork lift truck driver who turned to drink after the breakdown of his marriage.
She told Plymouth Crown Court a prison sentence would cost him his job, which was a stabilising factor in his life, and he was also a “semi-carer” for his mother.
Coleman was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and 20 days Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.
He was also banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay £530 costs.
Moore, of no fixed address, has admitted dangerous driving and is due to be sentenced for that and an assault at a later date with another co-defendant.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/must-reads/man-jailed-attacking-girls-including-one-young-eight/30/11/