Friends appear in court after car crashes into tree
Perry Benham, 27, was twice the limit when he crashed the car, damaging two trees. He and pal Liam Harris, 25, were stop-checked by police shortly afterwards.
Officers found the keys in Benham’s pocket and the pair, both of Keyhaven Drive, Leigh Park, were questioned the next day.
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Hide AdHarris refused to tell police who was driving, as did Benham initially but then admitted to police he was driving.
Magistrates fined Harris £300 with six points on his provisional licence and £115 costs to pay after he admitted failing to give information relating to the identification of a driver.
They banned Benham, who had 82mg in 100 millilitres of breath, from driving for 22 months with a £400 fine, £40 victim surcharge and £85 costs. Benham admitted drink-driving.
Simon Moger, for Benham, said: ‘He drives for a living, that’s going to affect his livelihood.’
He added Benham had a ‘difficulty recently’ after splitting with his girlfriend but that was context to the offence, not an excuse.