Drink driver tried to foil police by eating a chocolate orange

A drink driver tried to stuff a Terry's Chocolate orange in his mouth after being pulled over by police. Robert Selby appeared before Furness Magistrates' Court in Cumbria. Mr Peter Kelly, prosecuting, said: "The circumstances are that the defendant was driving along a Citroen Picasso along The Promenade on Walney at about 6am on April 27.



"The car was being driven very cautiously and officers on patrol stopped it. When they spoke to the defendant he smelt strongly of intoxicants and there were also signs, like his eyes, that showed he was intoxicated. He was asked to do a breath test and started eating things in his car. He ate some lozenges and he was told to stop. He then tried to eat a Terry's Chocolate Orange but they stopped him."

Mr Kelly explained to the court how you weren't allowed to eat or drink 20 minutes before a breath test as it could affect the outcome. He added: "When they carried out the test at the station the reading was 97 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 mililitres of breath. So, he was two-and-a-half times the legal drink drive limit." Selby, of Barrow Island, admitted drink driving. Defence solicitor Miss Karen Templeton represented the 46-year-old.



She said: "He lives on Barrow Island and had been to a birthday celebration on Walney. He had stayed the night on the sofa and woke up just before 6am and thought as he had slept and it was a new day he would be fine to drive. Clearly he wasn't." Magistrates ordered him to carry out 70 hours of unpaid work in the community and he was disqualified from driving for 24 months. He was ordered to pay £85 court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.