Chesterfield drunk driver pulled over “swerving" at 15mph after row with partner

During one attempt to give a reading Damon Shaw, 30, blew for just two seconds at Chesterfield Police Station following his arrest.

The arrest came after police were called out to Shaw’s Brimington home over reports of a “domestic incident” on April 30.

Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard how a neighbour on Raleigh Avenue indicated Shaw - who had no driving licence - had just left in his partner’s Ford Focus.

Police said Shaw was “extremely intoxicated” and “slurring his words” while his eyes were “glazed”.

Shaw’s solicitor Steve Brint said the defendant took the car “as a way out of the explosive situation at the time” and was en-route to his mother’s house before being stopped.

Mr Brint added that Shaw thought the “best thing to do was leave the address” however he said “alcohol had impacted his consequential thinking”.

Shaw, of Raleigh Avenue, admitted failing to provide a specimen for analysis, driving with no licence and driving while uninsured.

District Judge Andrew Davison told him: “I accept you had a fallout with your partner and having had a lot to drink you did not intend to drive.

“But you did not have a full licence and you were not insured.”

He was fined £1,020, made to pay £85 court costs and banned from driving for 24 months.

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