Drink driver 'will have to start again' after he was caught in Mansfield Woodhouse

Hawras Haji was stopped on Leeming Lane North in Mansfield Woodhouse at 10.55pm on March 30, said prosecutor Neil Hollett.

A test revealed he had 102 mcgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath, when the legal limit is 35 mcgs.

Pars Samrai, mitigating, said a friend invited Haji to stay the night and he drank alcohol but the friend's family returned home unexpectedly and he had to leave.

“It was a massive misjudgment on his part,” he said. “For what it's worth he didn't think he would be over the limit.

“He is somewhat perplexed to hear he was driving erratically. He refutes that. There's no suggestion he was driving at excessive speed.”

He said the consequences would be significant, explaining that Haji ‘came here from Iran in 2010 without being able to read or write English’.

“He studied mechanics and was recently offered a job as a Post Office driver after working in restaurants and car-washes,” said Mr Samrai.

“He will perceive this as a real punishment. That job would have provided him with security and a career. He will have to start again.”

A previous conviction in 2012 was ‘a wake-up call to him’.

Haji, 28, of Previn Gardens, Nottingham, admitted drink driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court, on Thursday.

He was fined £200, with £85 costs and a £34 surcharge. He was banned for 23 months, but will receive a discount of 174 days if he completes a course for drink-drivers before July 2022.

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