Driveway too long to walk down, drunk driver claims

  • 23/02/2018

A wealthy UK woman convicted of drunk driving has tried to avoid a driving ban by claiming her driveway is too long to walk down.

UK media reports there was laughter in court when a lawyer for Barbara Woodward, dubbed 'Driving Miss Lazy' in the tabloids, made the unusual plea.

"This lady has quite a large front drive, it is a quarter of a mile from the road and she will struggle to get around," Nigel Beeson told the magistrate's court in Stockport.

The 56-year-old widow was found three times over the limit at 9am on a Friday in November when she stopped at a petrol station to buy some more wine. Police said she appeared to have been up all night, and had make-up smeared across her face, reports the Daily Mail. She was slumped in the driver's seat when they found her.

Her husband's funeral was only held two days beforehand.

Woodward's lawyer said the widow shouldn't be made to do unpaid community work because she would be "out of her depth", never having had a job before.

"She is already in a strange enough situation for her and giving her unpaid work would put her in an alien surrounding and would make her feel uncomfortable."

Woodward was found guilty of drink-driving and banned from driving for two years. She wasn't made to do any work.

Newshub.