Crash drink-driver said he should not have let his heart rule his head

Matthew Garnett, 28, was nearly twice the drink-drive limit, according to a Chesterfield magistrates’ court hearing, when he crashed his car into a ditch on Horsleygate Lane, at Holmesfield.

Prosecuting solicitor Angela Hadfield told the court on June 19: “The defendant had driven a VW Golf while intoxicated and he lost control and the vehicle went into a ditch.”

Mrs Hadfield added that a passing motorist took him to the nearby Peacock pub, at Owler Bar, because there was no phone signal and the police were called.

Garnett, of Evelyn Road, at Crosspool, Sheffield, registered 155 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in his system, when the legal limit is 80 milligrammes.

He pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol drink-drive limit after the crash on February 10.

Garnett told the court he had been to a pub and he had an argument with his girlfriend via text and he admitted it was foolish to get into his car.

He admitted failing to notice the icy conditions because he had been drinking and said he had let his heart take control instead of his head.

Garnett added: “I let my heart take control and I did not want to lose my relationship with my girlfriend.

“It is no excuse for getting behind the wheel in such a state but I have now learned the hard way that it is not right to get into a car in that state.

“And I have learned something as well about making decisions with my head and not my heart and in the last four months I have made a lot of changes.”

Magistrates fined Garnett £120 and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

He was also disqualified from driving for 20 months but this can be reduced by 19 weeks if he completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.