A man who drove a car into a family’s living room while drunk has been banned from driving and ordered to pay £615 by magistrates.
Simon Li, 35, of Caerphilly Road, in Birchgrove, Cardiff, destroyed the front bay window of the house in Bartlett Street, Caerphilly, when he ploughed his Volkswagon Golf into the building on at around 7pm on Monday, April 2 this year.
Newport Magistrates’ Court was told how Li had 47 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms – when he crashed the car, which did not have a valid MOT certificate.
At a hearing on April 24, he admitted two charges under the Road Traffic Act 1988. These were drink-driving driving without a valid test certificate.
He was banned from driving for 16 months and ordered to go on a driver safety course which will cost him £250. If Li successfully completes the course by February next year, then the driving ban will be reduced by 17 weeks.
He was ordered to pay £300 in fines, £200 in compensation, a victim surcharge of £30, and prosecution costs of £85. The court agreed that Li could pay the money in instalments of £30 a month.
The family who live at the house told Caerphilly Observer at the time of the crash they had been sitting in the living room moments before the car came crashing through and had only moved to the dining room to eat cheesecake.
I dare say the owners of the house will now either have to make a claim on their insurance or pay for the damage themselves, either way the victims of this morons stupidity will end up out of pocket through no fault of there own. He should serve a driving ban of at least 5 years as this is the length of time a motoring conviction stays on your car insurance for.
A dsigusting result – this is not justice.
I agree he should have received a minimum 5 year driving ban and be made to pay the costs in full in one payment.
Normally his insurance would have been liable to pay the costs – but as he had no MOT his insurance would be invalidated.
Why wasn’t he jailed ? Soft justice again