FARMER’S WIFE IN DRINK DRIVE “HORROR” - Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
A weekly shopping trip turned into a “nightmare” for a farmer’s wife arrested for drink driving by Cumbria police.
Avril Bell (58), who had drunk two glasses of wine with a sandwich, had not realised she was over the drink drive limit until she was stopped by police on her way home from Penrith, taken to the station at Carlisle and put in a prison cell for five hours.
She has agreed to tell her “horror” story as part of Cumbria Police’s Christmas anti drink drive launch on December 5 when police will stop and breath test drivers believed to be over the limit in Carlisle.
Mrs Bell, who was later fined £485 and banned for 21 months for her first ever offence, said: “It will be my last. I hadn’t realised I had done anything wrong. It was an awful shock. I would never have driven if I had known I was over the limit. I felt fine.
“To spend five hours in a prison cell, it was horrendous. They gave me a cup of tea through the hole in the door. To be treated like such a criminal – never again. You don’t realise until it happens to you. It was an awful experience - the horror of all horrors.”
Mrs Bell, who has to get her husband to drive her everywhere, said losing her driving licence was like having “her right arm cut off.”
The couple have beef cattle and sheep and run a campsite on a 100 acres farm at Cross Dormont, near Pooley Bridge in the Lake District.
She volunteered to attend a drink drive rehabilitation course held at Penrith by the TTC Group, the UK’s leading provider of education for convicted offenders. People who successfully complete the course get up to a quarter off their ban.
“The course is absolutely wonderful. You do learn an awful lot that you didn’t know. People should go on this course before they get caught then they wouldn’t drink and drive.
“My message to everyone is that if you are going to drive, don’t drink any alcohol at all.”
For more information about drug and alcohol education, speed awareness, and courses for the corporate sector contact the TTC Group on 0845 270 4380 or visit
www.ttc-uk.com
