Drink driver who crashed pick-up truck into house banned

Scaffolder Ben Campbell, aged 30, of St Nazaire Close, Falmouth pleaded guilty to driving over the drink drive limit when he appeared at Truro Magistrates’ Court today (Monday).

Magistrates heard that police and emergency services were called to Helston Road, Penryn at 8.30am on September 20 after residents reported a vehicle had gone into a house, fracturing a gas pipe.

When the police arrived, they found Campbell with his damaged Nissan Navara sitting across the junction of Saracen Way. The vehicle had crashed into a house damaging it and Campbell was arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

Because of the fractured gas pipe residents along the road were evacuated from their homes while the gas company carried out repairs to the pipe. The road was closed for several hours with diversions put in place.

Wales & West immediately sent engineers to the scene and discovered that the Navarro had damaged a gas service pipe supplying a property in the area causing it to leak.

As a precaution, the emergency services closed Green Lane at its junction with Helston Road and evacuated several nearby properties.

The road was closed for several hours (Image: File)

Engineers worked as safely and as quickly as possible to stop the leak, making the area safe. Before making a permanent repair.

Campbell told the court he had been drinking the evening before and did not realise that the alcohol was still in his system and that he was nearly twice the drink drive limit. The alcohol reading in his breath was 63 in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35.

Disqualifying Campbell from driving for 18 months, the chair of the magistrates told Campbell that his accident had caused a lot of damage.

Campbell elected to take the drink driving rehabilitation course which if completed would reduce the length of the ban.

He was also fined £230, reduced from £345 for his early guilty plea, ordered to pay a surcharge of £92 and £85 costs.