News

An article in the Yorkshire Post referred to former footballer, Dean Windass, being disqualified from driving and ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work after the Court heard that he had fallen asleep whilst more than three times over the legal limit.

The ex-professional football player was tested at the police station and found to have 118ųg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 35ųg.  There was also an aggravating feature in that Mr Windass had collided with a parked vehicle.  Mr Windass was disqualified from driving for a period of 28 months.

In our view, even though this is at the top end of the scale in accordance with the Magistrates Court guidelines, it could have been much worse for Mr Windass.  The Guidelines suggest a period of disqualification of between 23-28 months for readings between 90-119ųg.  However, where the reading in breath is 120ųg or above, the starting point is a 12 week custodial sentence.  If Mr Windass had given a reading just slightly higher, he would have faced the realistic prospect of serving a prison sentence.