Drunk Chesterfield driver “rolled downhill” as if “asleep” after crash

Amazon worker Alex Seals, 24, was more than three times over the drink drive limit when he forced another driver to swerve onto a grass verge - scraping the VW Golf during the prang.

As the other driver stopped and approached Seals’ car on January 7 in Duckmanton he saw it rolling downhill as if Seals had “fallen asleep”.

Prosecutor Peter Bettany told Chesterfield Magistrates Court how the driver then approached Seals’ car after seeing it come to a stop with its brake lights on.

Mr Bettany said: “He thought the car had crashed and went to see if he was Ok.

“He (Seals) got out of the driver’s side and said ‘can we not go through the insurance?’”

The court heard how as police arrived at the scene Seals looked “unsteady on his feet”.

Seals’ solicitor Annette Thomas said the business management graduate was described in references as a “genuinely very polite and nice person” and that “alcohol is not an issue”.

She said: “He lost his grandfather in March 2020 with whom he was very close and has struggled mentally.”

Seals, of Blueberry Close, Inkersall, admitted drink driving and failing to stop after a road accident.

Handing him a £533 fine a magistrate told him: “You’re moving up the fine bracket to reflect the seriousness of your alcohol intake.”

He was banned from driving for 28 months and given a £53 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

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