A drink-driver almost caused a head-on crash before ploughing into a barried outside a Leicester Tesco store. Ioan Marginean was more than three times the limit when the incident happened.
Marginean was driving on the wrong side of Leicester’s Narborough Road in the early hours of Sunday, December 15 without any lights on. A car driven in the opposite direction had to take evasive action as Marginean’s Volkswagen Fox approached.
The vehicle which swerved then followed by Fox, but it crashed shortly after into the barrier and traffic lights outside the Narborough Road Tesco in the city’s West End.
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Officers from Leicestershire Police were called and after he was arrested and taken to a police station, Marginean gave a reading of 111 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
At Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (January 9) the 55-year-old pleaded guilty to drink-driving. Prosecutor Tracy Lovejoy told the court: “In the early hours of December 15 the witness saw the defendant driving in a vehicle on the wrong side of the road.
“The vehicle had no lights on and the witness had to swerve to avoid a collision. She followed the vehicle down Narborough Road and saw it crash into the barriers and traffic signals outside Tesco. She called the police and officers arrived and spoke to the defendant who seemed visibly intoxicated.”
Ms Lovejoy said the high reading meant a minimum driving disqualification should be 23 months, but added that the bad driving and the crash were both aggravating factors.
Representing himself in court, Marginean, of Burgess Street, Leicester city centre, said he worked as a driver and would now lose his job due to the conviction. Speaking through a Romanian interpreter, he said: “I would like to express my regret and say I’m sorry.
“It’s the first time I’ve done this thing in my whole life. It was a moment of madness. The fact my house wasn’t far from that location made me think I should drive. It was a very huge mistake I’ve made.”
Marginean was given a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £114 victim surcharge. Magistrates banned Marginean from driving for 28 months.