Donald Clegg was banned from driving for a year by the magistrates A doctor from Greater Manchester has been banned from driving after he failed to convince magistrates he had been drink driving in his sleep.
GP Donald Clegg, 59, was involved in a crash in Bury New Road in Prestwich in December. He was found behind the wheel in his dressing gown and slippers.
He claimed the sleepwalking meant he was not conscious of his actions, Bury Magistrates’ Court heard.
But the bench banned Clegg, of Prestwich, from driving for 12 months.
He had admitted driving with excess alcohol and without due care and attention but only because of his state of “parasomnia”.
Clegg was almost four times over the limit when he got out of bed and into his car on 8 December.
“We take into account you had been drinking heavily, evidenced by the high reading, and driving some distance on a major road, an accident occurred and you posed a significant risk”
Jean Hinkley Chair of the bench
He drove for a mile while still “asleep” before crashing into parked cars. He was talking incoherently about driving to his mother’s house when bystanders snapped the car key in the ignition to stop him driving away again, the court heard.
The GP claimed the first he knew of the incident was when he woke up in a police cell.
The prosecution did not dispute Clegg was sleepwalking.
Clegg’s lawyer asked the court to use “special reasons” to suspend any driving ban – normally automatic for drink-driving.
A breath test showed he had 127 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
Such a reading normally attracts a driving ban for about three years and possibly a short jail term.
But magistrates banned him for a year, fined him £650 and ordered he should pay £300 in costs and the £15 victim surcharge.
Jean Hinkley, chair of the bench, told Clegg: “We take into account you had been drinking heavily, evidenced by the high reading, and driving some distance on a major road, an accident occurred and you posed a significant risk.”
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