An easyJet air stewardess who was arrested for drunkenly loitering next to her car has been allowed back on the roads after insisting she had no intention to drive. Melissa Coombs, 40, was found by police in the car park of a Morrisons supermarket in Winsford, Cheshire, holding the keys to her Vauxhall Mokka. She tested more than twice the legal alcohol limit.
Court proceedings and charges
At Chester Magistrates' Court, Coombs admitted being drunk in charge of a motor vehicle, which carries a maximum six-month driving ban. However, prosecutors accepted her not guilty plea to the more serious charge of drink driving, which would have resulted in a mandatory disqualification. Instead, her driving licence was endorsed with 10 penalty points.
Nigel Jones, prosecuting, said: "On July 11 last year, police officers hastened to Morrisons car park in Winsford following reports that they had received and located the defendant who had a set of car keys to a Vauxhall Mokka. The keys were taken from her and it was clear that the defendant had been in control of that vehicle at that time. She was subsequently arrested."
Defense and personal circumstances
Coombs' solicitor, David Swingler, argued that she had been in a "distressed state" after splitting from her partner, whom she described as abusive. He said: "She is a good person, she lives a good life and has many many positives. On this day she met a friend and something was weighing heavily on her. She was coming to the end of an incredibly abusive relationship, a manipulative abusive relationship."
Swingler explained that Coombs had arranged to meet a friend but pulled into the Morrisons car park because she was too distressed to drive. She then began drinking while waiting for her friend to pick her up. He added: "She has to accept that there would have been a risk of driving if her friend had not turned up. She does not have to be in the car. Just being in possession of the keys means there could be a likelihood of driving."
Impact on employment and care responsibilities
The court heard that Coombs, a mother of one, lives with her mother, who is in her late 60s and has severe mobility issues. Coombs acts as her carer. She works as cabin crew for easyJet based at Manchester Airport, and a driving licence is essential for her to get to work for 4am shifts, as there is no public transport available at that time.
Swingler asked the magistrates: "Where does the greater good lie? Disqualifying her for six months, where she loses her job, she goes on to benefits, her life becomes difficult and in a few months she is back on the road. Ten points puts her on a knife edge and for three years she will not be able to obtain one set of penalty points otherwise she is off the road for six months."
Sentence and warning
Coombs was fined £300 and ordered to pay £270 in costs and a surcharge. JP Mrs Frances Miller warned her: "As your solicitor has said you have to be extremely careful when driving. Having a bald tyre will attract three points and 12 points is the magic number. So you have to be very careful."
Tests showed Coombs had a reading of 171 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, more than double the legal limit of 80mg.
