Drink-driver caught out after being 'persuaded' to move car from Gaywood garage, court told

Police called to a report of people trying to remove cars from a Gaywood vehicle parts business found one of them to be almost three times the drink-drive limit.

Eldo Palathuruthel, who was in a silver Vauxhall Zafira, and another person driving a blue Peugeot were stopped by officers at the Wilco premises.

Prosecutor Jane Walker told Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday that Palathuruthel had not made much progress.

She said: “He was attempting to reverse out of a car park. The engine was running, the lights were on and the vehicle was in gear.”

Palathuruthel failed a roadside breath test and was arrested. In custody he gave a reading of 99 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath; the legal limit being 35.

The 40-year-old, of Lowfield, Gaywood, pleaded guilty to drink-driving on December 4 last year.

Solicitor Rob New, mitigating, said his client had been “persuaded” by another person to collect the vehicle.

He told the court: “He didn’t think he was going to be that far over the limit or indeed over the limit at all.

“Police apprehended the defendant before he had moved even a few feet.”

The court was also told that the Indian national had not been in the country long.

“It would be fair to say he was not fully cognisant of the law in the UK,” said Mr New, who added that his client was the home-maker, looking after three young children, as his wife was a hospital nurse.

Palathuruthel was disqualified from driving for two years, which can be cut with completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

He was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £40 costs, plus a £32 victim surcharge.