Sutton man drove into car after downing wine and tablets

Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard police officers found James Slack “lolling at the wheel” of his Volkswagen Tiguan after the collision at Tesco Express, Lowmoor Road, on Saturday, April 14, at about noon.

As he was being driven to the police station, he told police he had taken “a large number of tablets”, and they took him to King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton.

Tests revealed he had 277 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, when the legal limit is 80mg.

Probation officer Mark Burton said Slack had drunk heavily the night before and topped up with wine the next morning.

He said: “He was too embarrassed to go back to the local off-licence so instead drove to Tesco.”

Mr Burton said Slack took four tablets, not because he wanted to harm himself, but “in his intoxicated state he thought they would make him feel better, quite foolishly.”

He said Slack, who is married with two children, had hit “rock bottom”, and checked himself into a private clinic for a four-week detoxification.

He is now attending AA meetings, spending more time with his family and doing exercise instead of drinking, he said.

The court heard Slack has since paid £350 to the owner of the other car, who he knows slightly, and his family were “disappointed, but also supportive”.

Slack, aged 42, of Cornmill Road, admitted drink driving.

He was banned from driving for 29 months, but offered a drink-drive rehabilitation course which will cut the disqualification by 25 per cent if completed by January 2020.

He was also fined £2,000, and ordered to pay a £170 government surcharge and £85 costs.