Alcohol counsellor causes drink-drive carnage
Facebook/Marcella Restrick
A school alcohol counsellor is facing a prison sentence after crashing into two parked cars while four times over the drink-drive limit.
Marcella Restrick, whose job it is to advise school children on the dangers of alcohol, got into her Toyota Aygo following a drinking binge, and mounted a grass verge, colliding with one car and sending it careering into another.
Witnesses claimed that, following the smash, 40-year-old Restrick fell out of her car and onto the road.
Prosecutor Kathryn Reeve told Scarborough Magistrates' Court: "She was seen to fall out the driver's door," the Daily Mirror reports.
"When police arrived on the scene Restrick told the officers, 'I will lose my job'."
When breath tested, she provided a sample of 134 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
The court heard that Restrick had begun drinking on a trip to scatter flowers in memory of her late boyfriend, who she has discovered dead at their home in April, after he had suffered an apparent epileptic fit.
Admitting drink-driving, Restrick was banned from driving for 32 months and ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a £65 surcharge.
However, she was warned that she could face prison due to the extremely high alcohol reading.
Adjourning the case for a probation report, magistrate Victoria Shepherd said: "Your reading was extremely high. It was a bank holiday in a coastal resort and you were out of control.
"You have been teaching in schools to children about the horrors of drink and you of all people should have been aware."
Commenting on Restrick's work, Derbyshire County Council told the Daily Mirror: "She could work voluntarily with one of our schools, but with over 400 schools it would not be possible to check."
