Judge's anger at drunk HGV driver
Three times the limit...in a 40-tonne lorry
A DISTRICT judge gave a furious dressing down to the driver of a 40-tonne lorry found staggering in an alcoholic haze.
Davinder Lachhar told the man, who had drunk more than three times the legal limit: “Anything could have happened – you could have had an accident, killing people.”
The incident happened at Greenham Business Park at 7.50am.
Clare Barclay, prosecuting, told Reading magistrates on Thursday, July 21, that the defendant, Paul Margineanu, was in the yard of English Provender, waiting for his lorry to be unloaded.
She added: “It was noticed that he was unsteady on his feet and that he was struggling to walk. Members of staff became suspicious and he admitted to them he had been drinking.
“He had driven the lorry there and so the police were called and he was arrested.”
Tests subsequently showed 107mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in the 44-year-old’s system. The legal limit is 35mcg.
The incident happened on Wednesday, July 20, and Mr Margineanu appeared the next morning in court from the cells where he had spent the night.
He admitted driving after drinking more than the legal limit.
Nicola Gordelia, defending, said a driving ban would have a “devastating effect” on her client and would cost him his job as a professional driver.
The court heard Mr Margineanu is a Romanian national with no fixed address in the UK, who regularly delivered to West Berkshire.
Ms Gordelia suggested to the judge that her client might avoid a driving ban by advancing a ‘special reasons’ argument.
She explained: “He had just finished a long shift and parked up in a layby and consumed vodka in his cab. He drove a very short distance.”
If the court accepts such a ‘special reasons’ argument then an otherwise mandatory, minimum 12-month driving ban can be reduced – or waived altogether.
But district judge Lachhar interjected: “These are not special reasons. The damage he could have done with a 40-tonne lorry is enormous.”
Ms Gordelia said her client was a hard-working man, who had been a professional driver for six years. She pointed out he had already spent time in custody following his arrest.
District judge Lachhar told Mr Margineanu: “This is a serious matter when you’ve drunk this amount, over three times the limit, and drive a 40-tonne lorry. The courts take a serious view.
“You should know as a professional driver you shouldn’t drink and drive at all, let alone with such a high alcohol level.”
She added: “Anything could have happened – you could have had an accident, killing people and then you would have been in the crown court looking at a number of years in custody.
“However, I give you credit for your early guilty plea and for your full and frank admission.”
Mr Margineanu was banned from driving for two years and fined £400.
In addition he was ordered to pay £85 costs plus a statutory surcharge of £40.