Northampton drink-driver jailed after being caught over the limit twice in nine months

Magistrates jailed a drink-driver who was caught nearly double the limit in Northampton TWICE in the space of nine months.

Ian Charles Ball was stopped in a Jaguar X-Type close to his home in Queensland Gardens, Kingsthorpe, on June 17 — just ten weeks after he had been hit with a two-year ban.

Tests later revealed the 46-year-old had 68 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliltres of his breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

He also admitted driving while disqualified and having no insurance at a hearing at Northampton Magistrates Court on June 20.

Ball was jailed for four weeks for drink-driving and ten for driving while disqualified, both sentences to run concurrently.

He had previously been convicted in April in a case moved to Birmingham when he was accused of drink-driving in Kettering Gardens, Northampton.

Northampton magistrates issued him with a new three-year ban and ordered him to pay a £154 surcharge to fund victim services.

Driving while over the limit for either drink or drugs is one of the so-called ‘fatal four offences’, which are most commonly linked to deaths and serious injuries on roads.

Chair of the Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance, Police Superintendent Jen Helm, said: “Drink or drug driving is selfish and reckless but so easy to justify for some.

"They may think it’s just a few extra drinks, but at what price?

"Most people thankfully have no concept of how appalling the consequences are for the victims, families and the driver themselves – but be assured they are horrendous, they don’t stop, there is no reset button.”