Drink-drive pensioner is banned from road (From The Bolton News)

Drink-drive pensioner is banned from road

9:25am Thursday 14th March 2013 in Local

n A PENSIONER has been banned from the road after pleading guilty for drink driving.

Alfred Maginn, aged 70, of Westhoughton, was caught swerving across the lane on the M61 near Chequerbent on March 4.

Police stopped Maginn, of Winslow Road, as he swerved from the slow lane across to the hard shoulder and found him to be almost twice over the limit with 66 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The former engineer admitted the offence at Bolton Magistrates Court yesterday.

Adam Whittaker, defending, told the court that Mr Maginn had been married for 45 years when his wife died due to sudden illness.

Mr Whittaker said the pensioner had found it increasingly difficult to cope and had started to drink more.

He added: “He made an effort to stop drinking but he started to spend more and more time in the car visiting places he used to go to with his wife. He also bought himself a dog to walk around these places.”

On the day of the offence, Mr Maginn had been over to his former work place in Rochdale to show his former colleagues his dog. When he arrived, he found out one of his old colleagues had been made redundant, so he drove over to Bury to visit him.

They went to the pub where he had at least two drinks and was stopped near Junction 5 on the M61 when he swerved across the road.

Mr Whittaker added: “When he drove home he was told he was actually driving too slow. He is very upset, ashamed and disappointed in himself. He has decided he will not drive again.”

Mr Maginn was banned from driving for 17 months and fined £220.