An upstanding member of the community has been sentenced for drink driving after a stranger had to intervene and remove her keys from the ignition.

Angela Forty, 64, of Chevalier Close, pleaded guilty to drink driving and criminal damage at Swindon Magistrates Court on November 26.

Mr Power, prosecuting, told the court that Forty was seen by a member of the public driving a Mercedes E220 into the Village Hotel car park at around 10pm on November 6 without headlights on, which immediately attracted their attention.

The member of the public was outside the premises smoking and he assumed Forty would turn her lights on, but she reached the top of the car park and began reversing – still without the headlights on – while hitting another vehicle and sliding down the side of parked cars.

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The witness intervened, knocking on her window, but she did not take any notice and continued to reverse, forcing him to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by the vehicle.

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Forty’s car mounted the kerb and he tried to get her attention again, to no avail, before calling the police, who asked if he would be able to open the driver’s side door to remove her keys from the ignition and he managed to do so.

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Mr Power referred to the member of the public as “courageous” and said it was “fortunate only cars were damaged during the incident”.

In mitigation, Mr Mott, defending, said the case was of a “bizarre nature” and Forty had driven a short distance in a well-lit car park, so there was a limited threat to the public.

She was shown an image of a damaged wheel arch on a Mercedes CLA 250 but had not been contacted by any other vehicle owners, which indicated any further damage was “relatively light” and she did not sustain damage to her own car.

The 64-year-old who has never had any points on her licence admitted her wrongdoing during her police interview and when asked by officers what the legal alcohol limit is, she said zero.

Nevertheless, she was over double the legal limit of 35, with 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Mr Mott explained Forty has a “productive and very loving life” as a frequent church-goer and volunteer in her local community and she has never so much as had a parking ticket, leaving her “mortified” to be in court and feeling as if she had let herself and her husband down.

Her husband of nearly 50 years wrote a letter to the Magistrates providing an insight into her character, which highlighted a love for her grandchildren and a kindness for him and others.

Mr Mott added a driving ban would be difficult for the couple because Forty’s husband has very limited mobility and depends on her to drive him around.

Forty was fined £230, a surcharge of £92 and prosecution costs of £85, totalling £407.

She was also disqualified from driving for 18 months and offered a drink driving course, which will reduce the length of the ban by 18 weeks on successful completion.

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The Magistrate told Forty: “It’s at the lower end of the band because we’ve listened to everything said about you and that’s to your credit.”

There was no separate penalty given for the damage to the parked vehicle and Forty told the bench that she felt bad she had damaged someone else’s property.

The Magistrate explained: “We’re trying to do what’s right by the law but we’re trying to do what’s right for you too.”

Forty thanked the bench on her way out, saying they had all been “really really brilliant.”

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