A boozed-up mother drove her 7-year-old son to the beach.
Before getting detained at a McDonald’s drive-through, a BOOZED-UP mother took her son to the beach when she was FOUR TIMES the drink-drive limit.
After travelling from Merseyside to north Wales, Sadie Smith, 47, was recorded on dashcam film driving so recklessly that she ploughed through a roundabout and into a grass verge.
It was “nothing short of sheer luck” that she didn’t cause a serious accident, according to source.
Smith sobbed as her family sat by her side as the court saw video of her nearly hitting with a traffic sign while driving with her son in the car.
Smith had been drinking the night before, according to prosecutor Helen Tench.
When a worried member of the public observed a Saab Index being driven “erratically” on the A548 in Flintshire around lunchtime on March 19, they alerted the police.
Smith was detained after being discovered “stumbling around the drive-through” and “slurring her words” at a McDonald’s on the Flint Retail Park.
She gave a breath measurement of 139 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath when she was apprehended. 35mcg is the legal limit.
Dashcam footage of the mother-of-one veering across roadways before landing on the grass edge of a roundabout was shown in court.
Smith, of Centurion Drive in Meols, Wirral, Merseyside, then proceeded to drive along the A548 towards Flint.
Mitigating, Stephen Edwards stated that this was a “huge wake-up call” for his client.
He stated that she had been using alcohol “as a crutch” to deal with challenges in her life that had been going on for “a number of years.”
Smith had faced the strains of being a single mother during the Covid-19 pandemic, juggling the sudden necessity to work from home while also educating her small son, he told the court.
This, along with other reasons, caused her to “hit the bottle.”
Smith “obviously” wasn’t thinking about the repercussions of her actions that day, according to Tracey Flavell of the probation department.
She said that she was “putting her son first” by “trying to do something pleasant for him.”
Smith has “find it difficult to ask for help,” she added, but is now seeking help from her community.
The court also heard how Smith’s 23-year career was cut short due to the felony accusation.
Smith’s conduct were labelled “hazardous” by Justice Jacqui Jones, who sentenced her to a 12-month community service term.
She was sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid community service and a three-year driving suspension.
“It was nothing less than sheer luck that you didn’t cause a fatality when driving over 30 miles in a very risky and unpredictable manner with your seven-year-old kid in the car,” Justice Jones said.
The video that was shown today most likely stunned you, your family, and us, the magistrates.
“You could have gone to prison today if you hadn’t made major efforts on your own to treat your alcoholism, and we believe you’ll keep those changes and never have to face these courts again.”
