Disability buggy drink-drive ban

A 17-year-old has been banned from driving for a year after he was caught doing 4mph on a pavement while drunk in a carriage for disabled people.

He and his uncle were driving in battery-driven carriages in Kinmel Bay, Conwy, on 19 October at 12.30am, Prestatyn Youth Court heard. Police breathalysed him and found that he was over the drink-drive limit.

His defence said they were on their way home from a family get-together, and called it a "bizarre" case.

Prosecutor David Mainstone said there was an issue over whether such carriages were governed by the same rules as ordinary road vehicles and it had been ascertained that they did, if the driver was not the disabled owner.

Alex Fitzgerald, defending, said he had had to do some research before advising his client to plead guilty. Mr Fitzgerald told the court the youth and his uncle, who was also in a carriage, had decided to ride home in the vehicles, which were owned by their grandparents.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was banned from driving for a year and given a three-month supervision order.