A DRUNK air hostess who drove herself to A&E after downing a bottle of rosé has been cleared of drink-driving.
Claudia Kinsey slipped and hit her head after a night of boozing – and insists she thought the only thing she could do was get behind the wheel and seek medical attention.
Tests showed she had 95 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 milligrams.
The 36-year-old said she had slipped and hit her head against a fireplace while dancing with her boyfriend – but instead of dialling 999, she took herself to hospital, thinking she would have to wait several hours for emergency services to arrive at her country cottage.
She was treated for a minor head wound by a nurse after making the eight mile journey to Macclesfield Hospital in Cheshire from her remote country home in Snelson, near Knutsford.
At Stockport magistrates admitted drinking a full bottle of rose wine before getting behind the wheel of her Jeep 4×4.
But she was found not guilty after telling the court she felt it would have been inappropriate to ring for an ambulance due to the accident happening at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She also said she feared a long wait if she called an ambulance or a taxi to her rural home.
She told the hearing: “We were dancing and I slipped as I had tights on. There is a fire place with very sharp edges and I hit the back of my head on it.
“I then panicked as there was blood on the floor and all over my face”
She explained how as her boyfriend headed to his car to grab a first-aid kit, the couple’s dog ran out.
Her boyfriend, Carl, went off to look for the dog, and Ms Kinsey decided to get her injury checked out.
“Carl could not have driven as he had a lot more to drink than I did and he was looking for the dog in any event.
“I am medically trained so my first thought was to seek medical assistance straight away as it was a head injury.
“There was so much blood.”
She added: ”I did not know the neighbours and I did not call 999 as I thought it would have taken a long time for an ambulance to get there, and I did not want to trouble them.
“I thought the guidance was not to call 999 because of Covid and ours is not an easy property to find in any event and we had not used taxis before at that property.
”I was so scared and I have never seen that amount of blood before in my life.”
Ms Kinsey said she was checked over by a nurse, and the injury wasn’t serious.
The nurse asked her if she had been drinking and she admitted that she had drunk a bottle of wine and handed over her car keys.
Peter Conroy, prosecuting, said: “When she slipped and hit her head, her immediate concern was not her safety, it was her dog.
“You may feel more compelled to drive to hospital if she had rang 999 or 111 and they said there was a long wait.
“However at no point does she try and ring an ambulance or a taxi.”
Dr Michael Gregory a lecturer in forensic medicine who was called by Kinsey to give evidence said: ”The NHS website will say it is standard for anyone with a medical head injury to go to A&E.
”Moreover a person who has been drinking and who has a head injury should always seek immediate medical attention. If any ambulance had been called, crew would have dispatched depending on the category and other priorities. They would not have been able to give treatment in the house and they would have taken her straight to hospital.
”As it turned out the head injury was not serious but she would not have known that until she was assessed. It was appropriate for her to seek medical assistance. Had she had rang 111, they would have told her to go to A&E.”
Kinsey’s lawyer John Dye added: ”She was drunk and driving but she drove because she thought it was the best thing for her to do. She thought she may die, believed she had a really serious injury and she needed to seek urgent medical attention.
”It is a fair point she should have considered an ambulance but because of the risk of Covid, she did not know how long it would take for one to get there.”
JP Pauline McCardle told Kinsey: “The defendant was impelled to react how she did because she had cause to belief that death or serious injury could result.
“She was aware of the government advice in not calling out ambulances and she did not know her neighbours.
“We find her actions were not unreasonable or disproportionate. In the agony of the moment a sober individual would have acted in the same way.”
