Boozy man is fined for sleeping in car

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Monday, January 27, how Kenneth Hammond, 56, of Spring Bank Road, Chesterfield, was spotted by a witness in Matlock slumped over the steering wheel in the vehicle.

Prosecuting solicitor Ian Shaw said: “The witness left his home and noticed a parked vehicle and the driver slumped over the wheel with the engine still running and he called police.

“Police attended and found Hammond in the driver’s seat with the engine running and the heating on.”

Mr Shaw explained that when the police opened the car door they could smell alcohol and Hammond provided a roadside breath test.

Jobless Hammond pleaded guilty to being in charge of a vehicle after exceeding the alcohol drink-drive limit following the incident in November.

The court heard how Hammond recorded 51 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Defence solicitor Kevin Tomlinson said: “Mr Hammond says he was asleep in a sleeping bag and he had to be roused.

“He came to be in the car because he was homeless at the time and had been living in a caravan on an industrial estate where he had been working but after a fall-out he had moved out.

“Mr Hammond had gained work as a mechanic in Matlock and had been given use of a vehicle. He accepts he had been drinking before police became involved.”

Magistrates fined Hammond £73 and ordered him to pay £40 costs and a £20 victim surcharge. He was given 10 points on his licence but was not disqualified from driving after magistrates accepted he had not intended to drive.