Stansted coach crash driver admits drink driving
15.04.08
The driver of a National Express coach that crashed near motorway services when on the way to Stansted Airport has admitted dangerous driving and being over the drink drive limit when the vehicle overturned.
Leslie Darryl Weinberg, 35, from Meyrick Road in West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to charges of driving while under the influence of excess alcohol and dangerous driving at a short hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court yesterday. He had 145 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood; the legal limit is 80.
Eight people needed hospital treatment when the coach overturned at the Newport Pagnell services on the M1 on September 3 last year. Six people were seriously hurt and one man had his arm amputated. Mr Weinberg had to be cut free from the wreckage.
The coach was travelling from Birmingham to Stansted and carrying 77 passengers. It was leaving the services on a slip road when Mr Weinberg lost control. Passengers spoke of the vehicle weaving and swerving around just before the accident, just after 16:00.
Judge Christopher Tyrer disqualified Mr Weinberg from holding or obtaining a driving licence. The judge added that the offence was 'way past' the custodial threshold (in other words, that he faces a jail term). The case was adjourned until the week of May 26 for medical reports.
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