Dr. Clegg pleaded guilty to driving over the limit “without due care and attention” and was sentenced to a minimum 12 month driving ban, a fine of £650 and was ordered to pay £315 in court fees and charges. The court rejected that Dr. Clegg’s sentence should be suspended due to his somnambulism (somncogoism?).
The chairman of the bench, Jean Hinkley, told Dr. 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."
His wife rang the police after she heard him leave. In retrospect, Dr. Clegg thinks he should have given up after his first incident of sleep-driving, wherein he crashed his car into a tree. He told the court:
“I did not think I would do it again. That’s the first time I had ever left the house in one of these parasomnia, sleepwalking episodes.”
From now on, Dr. Clegg will ask his wife to hide the car keys before he goes to bed. Whether or not this will be the UK doctor’s last drunken-sleep-driving incident, only time will tell.
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