An empty wine bottle was found in oil tanker

After twice buying alcohol in a supermarket a 48-year-old man was caught driving an oil tanker and an empty bottle of wine was found in the vehicle.
Craigavon Court House. INLM0311-117gcCraigavon Court House. INLM0311-117gc
Craigavon Court House. INLM0311-117gc

Ian Jeffrey Clarke, whose address was given as Mourneview Avenue, Lurgan, was banned from driving for 15 months last Wednesday at Craigavon Magistrates Court.

He was also fined £350 for failing to provide a specimen on November 17 last year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

For resisting a constable he was fined £100 and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

The court heard that at 12.10pm police received a report of a man purchasing alcohol on two occasions at Supervalu on the Banbridge Road in Lurgan before getting into an oil tanker.

At 12.15pm the tanker was stopped at Russell Drive and when police spoke to the defendant who was driving they could smell alcohol on his breath.

Clarke was requested to provide a breath test but refused and when he was arrested he began to get aggressive with police and refused to get out of the vehicle.

There was an empty bottle of wine in the tanker.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

CCTV footage from the store showed the defendant on two occasions on the same date purchasing alcohol.

Mr Gabriel Ingram, representing the defendant, said Clarke accepted he had a drink problem.

He explained his client had been called back into work to cover for someone.

He had been driving for 32 years with a clear record.

District Judge, Mrs Bernie Kelly, said this was a school day at a time when infants were getting out and he was driving an oil tanker.

“How many children could you kill with an oil tanker?” she added.

Related topics: