Car finance worker, 23, charmed police who caught her drink-driving when she clipped Mercedes on side of road – then tried to dodge road ban by telling judge the kerb was ‘unnaturally high’
- Police saw Isabella Worthington scrape her five-door car against the roadside
- She claimed she had only clipped the kerb because it was ‘unnaturally high’
- Worthington initially denied drink driving but later admitted it on day of trial
- She was disqualified from driving for 14 months and fined £747 plus costs
A car finance worker pranged her Mercedes while drunk and charmed police officers who caught her has failed in her attempt to dodge a driving ban by saying the kerb she clipped was ‘too high’.
Police patrolmen saw Isabella Worthington, 23, scrape her five-door A 200 D AMG against the roadside at Parsonage Retail Park in Leigh, Greater Manchester, at 9pm on April 18.
The driver, from Warrington, Cheshire, claimed she had only clipped the kerb because it was ‘unnaturally high’ due to the road being ‘under-developed’.
Police who spoke to her at the roadside filed a report saying she was ‘compliant, friendly and chatty’ at the scene, so she was driven to the police station in a squad car rather than a police van.
Worthington later pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving with excess alcohol and asked to run a trial which would have cost taxpayers £770.
This week at Wigan magistrates court Worthington, who is thought to work as a £29,000 year underwriter for a car finance company, changed her plea to guilty on the day of the trial after watching police footage of the incident.
She was disqualified from driving for 14 months, fined £747 and told to pay £225 in costs and surcharges.
Police patrolmen saw Isabella Worthington, 23, scrape her five-door A 200 D AMG against the roadside
The driver, from Warrington, Cheshire, claimed she had only clipped the kerb because it was ‘unnaturally high’ due to the road being ‘under-developed’
Isabella Worthington, 23, scraped her five-door A 200 D AMG against the roadside at Parsonage Retail Park in Leigh
Tests showed she had 46 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Prosecutor Neil White said: ‘This incident is very straightforward. Police on mobile patrol saw a motor vehicle then heard a scraping noise coming from further along the road.
‘They saw the defendant in the drivers seat and asked her if she had had a drink. She admitted to the officers that she had.
‘Bodycam footage showed that the defendant was compliant, friendly and chatty. She said she scraped her car because it was a new estate and because the roads were undeveloped.
‘She admitted she had driven the car and they allowed her to be taken to the police station in a normal squad car because of her compliance. She said she had scraped her car due to the high kerb.
Worthington changed her plea to guilty on the day of the trial after watching police footage of the incident
‘She initially pleaded not guilty but after seeing the footage today, she has changed her plea to guilty. The evidence against her compelling and strong. But there was damage to the front wing of the Mercedes because of the unnaturally high kerb.’
Worthington had no previous convictions or cautions. Appearing unrepresented she told JPs: ‘I have nothing to say except that I am working and earn £2,400 per month.’
Sentencing her, chairman of the bench John Mason told her: ‘Drink driving is a serious offence but fortunately, there was no accident or injury caused in this case.
‘You will be fined and also disqualified from driving for 14 months and during that time you cannot drive on any kind of car on any road. We are going to offer you the drink drivers awareness course.’