Drunk PA tried to drive after airbag went off in crash

A personal assistant crashed her car into a tree while more than five times the drink-drive limit and tried to drive away despite her airbag having deployed.

Carley House, 28, was found “spaced out” at the wheel of her wrecked Ford Fiesta, near her home in Worcester Park, south London, but was only prevented from driving off when a witness took away her car keys, the court heard.

Magistrate Lesley Bridge gave House a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months at Croydon magistrates’ court, telling her: “You could have hit a person, instead you hit a tree. It could have been a mother pushing a buggy along with two kiddies.”

She added: “Some of us have been sitting in court many, many years and we have never seen such a high quantity of alcohol in someone’s system. You are not even on our sentencing guidelines. You are way over.”

Mother-of-one House, who sobbed in the dock as she was sentenced, was also banned from driving for three years.

The court heard she had 191 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath after the crash on the evening of March 3. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Prosecutor Roy Wordell said a neighbour heard a “loud bang” and found House in the driver’s seat “clearly intoxicated” and “spaced out”. He added: “Despite the air bags being deployed she tried to drive off.”

Judy Ramjeet, representing the personal assistant, said House faces losing her job as a result of the conviction, and is “mortified by her actions”.

House was also ordered to complete 80 hours of community service, attend a 30-day rehab course, and pay a total of £200 in court costs and fees.