Drink driving gran sentenced for head-on crash

Margaret Kennedy was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court

A drink driving great-grandmother who crashed head-on into a van has been ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work.

Margaret Kennedy, 64, was more than twice the drink drive limit when she collided with a van on the A69 in Northumberland in December, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The van driver suffered only minor injuries and Kennedy was said to be highly remorseful.

As well as a 15-month community order, Kennedy, who admitted two offences, was also banned from driving for 18 months.

Prosecutor Mairi Clancy said Kennedy was heading eastbound towards Hexham in a black Vauxhall Corsa shortly before midnight on 1 December when she veered across the road straight into a Berlingo van.

Ms Clancy said the van driver could do nothing to avoid the collision, but she suffered only minor injuries to her face.

Kennedy was found to have 76mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 35mcg.

In mitigation, Ian Dawson said Kennedy had drunk whiskey to alleviate the pain of a "chronic toothache" and urinary infection, and could not remember getting into her car or crashing.

He said she had a "high level of remorse, regret and shame" and was a "hard-working, law-abiding citizen in her mid-60s who made one mistake".

Kennedy, of Broadway in Fourstones near Hexham, admitted dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

Recorder Felicity Davies said while it was "not clear" what made Kennedy get into her car while drunk, it was "wholly out of character" and she was "unlikely" to offend again".

The judge said the crash occurred shortly after the A69 went from dual carriageway to single and the van driver suffered business losses due to the damage to her vehicle.