Drunk Derbyshire driver failed to give breath test amid asthma and “panic attack”

Sam Hancock, 24, was seen crossing the central reservation line and driving in an “erratic manner” on Barlborough’s Oxcroft Way, Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard.

Prosecutor Lynn Bickley said when Hancock stopped for police he “smelled of intoxicants” and there was half a bottle of wine on the passenger seat, around 1.20am on October 2.

A check also revealed he was a disqualified driver and he was taken into custody.

Ms Bickley said: “When asked to provide a sample of breath he didn’t blow hard enough and kept stopping mid-breath. He said he had asthma and would have a panic attack.”

The court heard Hancock had two previous driving convictions.

His solicitor Nadine Wilford said he had not driven far and, in his own words, had made “a big mistake”.

She said: “He accepts he had been drinking earlier in the night and is completely remorseful.”

Mrs Wilford said Hancock had never been supported with rehabilitation or a thinking skills programme.

She added: “Perhaps if he had we would not be here today. He is still very young and has never been to prison before.

“He has not been at work because he’s so worried about these proceedings.”

Mrs Wilford added there was a concern in a report completed by the probation service that Hancock could be exposed to “criminally-sophisticated peers” if sent to custody.

Hancock, of Creswell Road, Clowne, admitted driving while disqualified and uninsured and failing to provide a specimen.

A magistrate told him: “This is a serious offence and it crosses the custody threshold but we’re stepping back from custody.

“Our reasons are your age, your willingness to engage with probation and the fact that you have never been subject of a community order before.”

The defendant was handed six weeks jail suspended for 12 months, 10 rehabilitation activity days, 100 hours unpaid work and a four-year driving ban.

He was also ordered to pay a £154 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.