Drink-driver banned after damaging car, telegraph pole and wall of Ipswich house
The damage caused to the fencing and brickwork in Westerfield Road by Joshua Turmel. - Credit: Su Anderson
A drink-driver was more than twice the limit when he ricocheted off a stationary car and into a telegraph pole which fell on to a garden wall, a court heard.
Joshua Turmel’s early morning crash left the wall in Westerfield Road, Ipswich, badly damaged.
The 20-year-old, of Manor Farm Bunglalows, Swilland, near Ipswich, pleaded guilty at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court to drink-driving and was banned for 24 months.
Prosecutor Tess Mann said the offence occurred at around 2.20am on February 20.
The squash coach’s car had been involved in a collision and the Peugeot 206 had come to rest against a telegraph pole.
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Magistrates were told the pole had been hit so hard it catapulted it into a front garden doing significant damage to a wall.
The VW Polo the Peugeot struck had been parked outside a neighbouring house, but was shunted further up the road.
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When police arrived at the scene Turmel was in the back of an ambulance and admitted he had been driving the Peugeot.
A subsequent breath test showed he had 90 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcgs.
Turmel, who represented himself, said: “I want to apologise hugely. It was something completely out of character.
“I take full responsibility for my actions.”
The court heard Turmel had been struggling to come to terms with an illness in the family at the time of the offence.
In addition to his drink-drive ban magistrates sentenced him to a six-month community order.
He must also pay costs of £85 and £60 to the victims’ fund.
