Court report: Lincolnshire man crashed car and failed to give a breath sample

Lewis Himsworth, 23, of Abbey Crescent, who admitted failing to provide a sample, was said to have been the driver of a Ford Transit van that left the road on Drayton Road in Swineshead at 5.30am on October 3 and was arrested following a positive breath test at the roadside.

However, the magistrates were told he did not provide an evidential breath sample at the police station.

Mitigating, Carrie Simpson said that Himsworth, who has no previous convictions, had provided a reading of 52 micrograms at the roadside, the legal limit being 35, but he had tried three or four times to provide an evidential sample at the police station but been unable to do so.

She said this was probably because it was the first time he had been in a police station and that he had to go to hospital for treatment for bruising to his chest as a result of the collision.

Himsworth was banned from driving for 14 months but was offered the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course, which will reduce the period of the ban by 14 weeks.

He was also fined £433 and ordered to pay a total of £128 in court costs an charges.