A drink-driving chef caused life-altering injuries to a motorcyclist, a court was told. Johann Payne drank two pints of alcohol and a glass of wine before she got behind the wheel of her Mini and hit the victim.
A chef at The Hutt, in Nottingham Road, Ravenshead, Payne pulled straight out of the pub car park onto the A60, at a junction known locally to be dangerous, Nottingham Crown Court was told. Payne, aged 62, collided directly with a Honda CBR, throwing the rider, a 50-year-old man on his way to work, clear of the bike onto a grass verge at 5.45pm on January 2 last year.
Footage from a dashcam was played in court before Payne was jailed for nine months for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. A witness was heard saying, “Whoa, Whoa, Whoa”, and, “call an ambulance”, as the injured motorcyclist, wearing a helmet and motor bike leathers, lay on the roadside.
Read more: Ex-soldier’s mission to find help after he was caught drug-driving
He had a broken pelvis, broken left shoulder and ball joint, broken shin, broken ribs and internal bleeding. Edie Leonard, prosecuting, told the court on Wednesday, March 23, that the victim’s relationship had broken down since, he struggled with his memory, suffers flashbacks, and has a thick scar on his stomach after surgery.
Payne, who also admitted drink-driving, was found to have 43 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, over the limit of 35, and was banned from the roads for three years and four-and-a-half months, accounting for the time she will serve in custody. Katrina Wilson, mitigating, said Payne had been working at the pub in her role as a chef.
She accepted, during the course of her shift, she drank the two pints and a glass of wine, and “ultimately she shouldn’t have been behind the wheel,” added Miss Wilson. Apart from being dropped off by her son at court, Payne has not been in a car since and, “she doesn’t intend to ever get behind the wheel of a car again”, said Miss Wilson, who stressed her client was not an alcoholic.
Recorder Michael Auty QC based his sentence on guidelines. He told Payne, who still works at the pub and lives in Nottingham Road, Ravenshead, the victim sustained life-changing, profound injuries, which have already affected his life massively. “You stayed at the scene,” he said. “You were there and spoken to by police. I recognise you were in shock. I recognise, but for one previous conviction, you were of previous good character.”