Woman was 'lucky not to have died' following serious Gwynedd crash

The A494 at Rhydymain
-Credit: (Image: Google Street View)


A woman who seriously injured herself after crashing her car while over the drink and drug drive limit has been sentenced. Claire Williams was badly injured following an early-hours crash on the A494 at Rhydymain, near Dolgellau, earlier this year.

The 41-year-old, of Clawdd Ponciau near Corwen, appeared before a court in Caernarfon yesterday (Wednesday, September 25) after pleading guilty to drink and drug driving. A North Wales Police statement said: "The collision took place on the A494 Rhydymain shortly before 2am on Saturday, 13th April and involved a black coloured Ford Focus which was being driven by Williams.

"She was initially taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital but was later transferred to hospital in Stoke due to the nature of her injuries. She remained in hospital until May.

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"Following the results of toxicology tests, Williams was interviewed where she admitted to being the driver of the vehicle at the time of the collision. Her tests results showed that she was over the prescribed limit of alcohol and that she had consumed cocaine prior to the collision."

She was charged with driving whilst under the influence of drink and drugs and was yesterday (Wednesday) sentenced to a 12-month community order, 120 days alcohol abstinence and monitoring requirement, 20 days rehabilitation activity requirement, 32-month disqualification and was ordered to pay £85 in costs.

Investigating Officer PC Gareth Rogers, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at North Wales Police, added: “Driving whilst under the influence of drink and drugs can have serious consequences. Claire Williams is lucky that she wasn’t fatally injured – however she was extremely lucky that she did not harm an innocent motorist during the early hours of that morning.

“It is only right that she admitted the offence by pleading guilty and has been dealt with accordingly by the court. Hopefully she will learn from her completely reckless actions.

“I would ask that as drivers, we all reflect on how we use our vehicles on the road. Choosing to drive when impaired by alcohol and drugs is dangerous and unacceptable and can cause unimaginable harm. We are committed to making the roads safer and have a robust strategy around enforcing the ‘Fatal 5’ offences which includes drink and drug driving.”

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