23-year-old’s ‘lack of maturity and experience’ saw him caught drink-driving after pub

A 23-year-old was caught drink-driving after his friend’s “daft” actions in front of a CCTV camera put the police on their tail.Charlie Gardiner appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where he pleaded guilty to the offence – as well as having no insurance.On December 1, police received information that he was driving his Volvo after drinking at a pub in Lynn. They subsequently pulled him over on London Road.

He failed a roadside breath test and was arrested, and in custody he blew a reading of 60mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit to drive is 35mcg.Gardiner, who was of previous good character, was banned from driving for 17 months.He will also pay a £480 fine, £192 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs. Magistrates offered him a drink-driving rehabilitation course which, if completed, will reduce his ban by 17 weeks.In mitigation, duty solicitor Tiffany Meredith said Gardiner had only bought the vehicle he was driving on the day of his offences. He was “under the impression” that his father had arranged his insurance policy, but it had not yet come into effect.“He bought it in Norwich, so he had driven it home thinking that he was fully insured,” Ms Meredith said.“As stated, he fully accepts it is his responsibility to sort that out.” The solicitor told the court that Gardiner had been in the town centre Wetherspoon pub with friends before going to a club.She said he stopped drinking before returning to his car, and then proceeded to sit in the vehicle for an hour and a half in an attempt to sleep.However, after being unable to drift off and deciding that he “felt fine”, he made the decision to drive to his home at Ely Road in Little Downham, Cambridgeshire.“It is probably, in my submission, a lack of maturity and experience that has caused this misjudgment,” Ms Meredith said. She added that the police were only alerted to Gardiner’s location after one of his friends began to act “daft” in front of a CCTV camera, which caught officers’ attention.Gardiner has a job which sees him unload lorries, and will be able to make arrangements to get to work without a car now he is disqualified.“He realises it is stupid – he is fully accepting of that,” Ms Meredith concluded.“He is clearly remorseful.”