Four-year driving ban for Harrogate man for being four times over the legal drink-drive limit

27 July 2015

Richard Bowerman, 48, from Greenhow Hill near Harrogate has been banned from driving for four years and given a suspended sentence.

Mr Bowerman was breathalysed following a single vehicle collision on Duck Street, Greenhow on 17 April 2014.

He was found to have 155 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Mr Bowerman pleaded not guilty to drink driving, but was later found guilty by Harrogate Magistrates.

He was sentenced on 23 July 2015, and in addition to his driving ban, he was given an 18-week prison sentence suspended for 12-months, ordered to pay costs of £930 and ordered to take part in a drink driver’s rehabilitation programme.

The conviction is his second for drink driving after previously being convicted in 2010.

Traffic Constable Neil Cholmondeley of North Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, said:

The gravity of the offence is reflected in the sentencing for this case. However, Mr Bowerman is very lucky to have escaped with just a driving ban and suspended sentence, the consequences could have been far worse. He is also very luck indeed to have escaped the collision without injury.

It is astounding that drivers still believe they can get away with drink driving despite the very high profile campaigns highlighting the dangers. I hope the sentence sends a warning to others who may be tempted to drink and drive.

North Yorkshire Police attended the scene of a collision at around 12.20pm on the afternoon of 17 April 2014 after being called be the ambulance service.

On arrival Mr Bowerman’s Subaru Impreza was found to have left the road and had come to rest in a drainage ditch at the side of the road. Thankfully, Mr Bowerman was uninjured.  He was breathalysed at the scene and arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

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