And shortly afterwards, the driver’s car was reported to have collided with another vehicle in a car park at the Food Hall in St Ouen’s Village.
Richard McConnell (67), of Rue du Rondin, St Mary, pleaded guilty to being more than three times over the drink-drive limit.
And the Magistrate’s Court heard that he wanted to go into Silkworth Lodge to get treatment for alcohol addiction before he was sentenced.
The court heard that staff at the Co-op-owned petrol station in St Mary called the police at 2.40 pm on 10 December to report the driver of a green Honda Jazz and shortly afterwards another person called police headquarters to report a collision involving the same vehicle, with no damage, in the St Ouen car park.
While making his way to McConnell’s address, a police officer overtook three cars, one of which was McConnell’s Honda Jazz. At that point he did not realise that was the car he was looking for and later reported that the vehicle was being driven slowly.
Shortly after the police arrived at McConnell’s home, the defendant drove in and parked his car across the road in a field. The officer watched the defendant walk towards him and he was unsteady on his feet. McConnell failed a breath test and when he gave a sample over an hour after the call from the garage, the reading was 111 mcg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcg.
Advocate Jeremy Orchard, defending, suggested that a Probation Department report ahead of sentencing should be delayed until after McConnell had been for treatment. However, he said that no date had yet been set for the treatment programme to start. McConnell was immediately disqualified from driving and the case was adjourned until 17 January.
