GRANDMOTHER Iris Tostevin has warned of the danger of combining sleeping pills with driving after crashing her car. The 72-year-old was fined £600 and banned for 18 months after she fell asleep at the wheel.
She had taken a sleeping tablet and then took a second as she was taking a call from her distressed grandson in the early hours of the morning asking for a lift home from a party.
In the Magistrate’s Court, the defendant, of Isoletta, Saumarez Park Lane, Castel, admitted driving while unfit through drink or drugs.
She said after the case that she took the second tablet forgetting she had taken one previously.
‘I have not been taking them for a very long time and they have never affected me like that before.
‘I wouldn’t have normally got up at that time of night, it was special circumstances,’ she said.
‘You have to get to know how your tablets will affect you.
Police were called to Landes du Marche, Vale, after her hit a bank at 2.10am on 27 December.
She was unsteady on her feet and had to lean against the car.
A roadside test found she had not drunk any alcohol.
She kept falling asleep while police were talking to her.
‘It never occurred to me that the pills would affect me in this way and I was taking the second one while I was on the telephone to my grandson,’ she said.
‘I have never knowingly taken two before.
‘The trouble is when you get to my age you forget things.
‘It says not to take them while driving or operating heavy machinery.
‘The price I will pay is that I probably won’t ever drive again because I don’t want to go through that again.’
Advocate David Domaille said that his client did a lot of voluntary work and was distraught about what had happened. She has no previous convictions.
Assistant-Magistrate Cherry McMillen accepted that the defendant was a woman of exemplary character but said it was a serious offence.
Superintendent Ian Morellec said there had been only three similar cases since 2002.
‘The lesson from this recent case highlights the dangers of driving while taking prescription drugs.
‘From what I can gather about this case it was nothing more than an elderly lady taking prescription medicine and due to a number of circumstances drove and learnt the danger in doing so.
‘Of the three people who have been to court for driving under the influence, one was a mix of different prescription drugs and the second was never known because the person pleaded guilty.
‘But I don’t think I would place the most recent case among that category.’
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