A drunk woman who guzzled a bottle of wine while driving a mobility scooter the wrong way on a dual carriageway has been prosecuted under a Victorian law.
Fiona Buckingham was pulled over by cops after almost colliding with several motorists on the busy A14 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, earlier this year.
Police received multiple calls from drivers who were forced to swerve to avoid hitting the 57-year-old as she trundled towards oncoming traffic in the evening of August 25.
When officers arrived, they were met with a ‘scene of chaos’ as some drivers had pulled over and tried to wave down Buckingham as she cruised along the road.
Buckingham was also drinking a bottle of wine at the time, while her 8mph mobility scooter and attached trailer had no lights and no number plate.
Northampton Magistrates’ Court heard she was ‘highly intoxicated’ and had put the lives of multiple members of the public at risk.
Police said Buckingham could ‘barely speak’ and when she was arrested, tried to climb out of the police car window, while shouting ‘I’m not even here’.
Buckingham admitted causing danger to other road users, and being drunk in charge of a carriage – a law passed in 1872, which originally carried a penalty of ‘court imprisonment’ or a fine of up to forty shillings.
Prosecutor Christina Bilbao told Northampton Magistrates’ Court how several motorcyclists desperately tried to stop Buckingham.
She said: ‘One of the bikers told police he had shouted across at the defendant and she just grunted at him. His intention was to slow traffic down alert other road users.
‘Once he’d returned back up the carriageway another car had stopped in lane one and that person was now speaking to the defendant.
‘It was extremely busy in both directions at the end of a bank holiday weekend.
‘Police were met with a scene of chaos with multiple members of the public standing in lane one having put themselves in danger.
‘People were waving their arms and had lights in the air.’
Ms Bilbao said: ‘Her actions put the lives of multiple members of the public at risk that night, including her own.
‘The evidence of the police officers was that she didn’t believe she’d done anything wrong.’
Gill Walker, defending, said that in nearly 40 years in practise she had never seen the charge used before in court.’
The Licensing Act 1872 states that it is an offence to in charge of any carriage and, among other things, any horse or cattle on a highway while drunk.
Ms Walker continued: ‘It’s clear that she didn’t mean to harm anybody else. She made a poor decision.
‘It’s really lucky that nobody was hurt including her.
‘She totally accepts what she did and is mortified that she might have hurt somebody else but fortunately she didn’t.’
Magistrate Suzanne Austin said: ‘There’s not many times I’m speechless to be honest.
‘This is a very unusual charge but it doesn’t take away how dangerous it was.
‘It’s a very, very busy piece of road. The decisions you made on that day were in drink, but it’s no excuse for your behaviour.’
Buckingham was handed a community order including 30 rehabilitation activity days and six months of alcohol treatment.
She was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £90 surcharge.
