Drink-driver fled scene of collision in Worthing

A drink-driver who fled from her vehicle after crashing has been disqualified.

Roxanne Benn was identified as the driver of a vehicle which crashed in South Farm Road, Worthing, at about 1.15am on July 16.

The 24-year-old had been out with her friends drinking at a nightclub in the town, but still thought she was still fine to drive home.

She crashed her black BMW through a lamppost and though a fence at a business premises before decamping from the vehicle.

But officers from the Roads Policing Unit were able to trace her to her home address.

She denied being the driver but was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and was taken outside the address where she was abusive to the officers attending.

Later, in custody, Benn tested for 65 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

She admitted she was the driver, and was charged with drink-driving, failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic accident, and failing to report a road traffic accident.

By her own admission she revealed she had consumed two shots of Jagermeister and three vodka lemonades on her night out.

She claimed she had “panicked” when she crashed the vehicle.

At Worthing Magistrates’ Court on August 2 she admitted the charges and was disqualified from driving for 18 months.

The court ordered Benn, a trades painter, of Lincett Avenue, Tarring, to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and to pay £85 court costs and a £114 victim surcharge.

Sussex Police are sharing details of convictions for drink and drug-driving to coincide with the force’s annual summer crackdown.

Drink and drug-driving is one of the “fatal five” factors of why people are killed and seriously injured on our roads.

RPU officer PC Ana Wellfare said: “Benn was clearly in no fit state to drive her vehicle, and put her own safety as well as the safety of her passengers and other road users at great risk. She is lucky that no one was seriously injured.

“Alcohol seriously impairs a person’s ability to drive safely, and there are no excuses for drink-driving.

“This case demonstrates our determination to catch offenders, we are pleased that another drink-driver has been taken off our roads to prevent causing danger to herself and anyone else.”