VIDEO
A DRINK DRIVER who ploughed through railings at Coppins Bridge, landing in the River Medina, has been handed a suspended jail sentence by Isle of Wight Magistrates this morning (Tuesday).
Lucy Wilton, 29, was almost four times the limit when she smashed through the safety barrier in the early hours of February 18.
The estate agent, who was driving a company car, had to be pulled from the partially submerged vehicle by emergency services, before being taken to St Mary’s Hospital, although she escaped serious injury.
She gave a reading of 130mg in a sample of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Wilton, of Northcliff Gardens, Shanklin, pleaded guilty to drink driving.
Magistrates watched CCTV footage of Wilton’s blue Vauxhall Corsa careering around Coppins Bridge at around 1.15am, undertaking one vehicle near the church on the roundabout, before smashing through the railings near the junction with East Street, close to Pizza Hut.
Wilton had been drinking with friends at Hogs Head and planned on getting a taxi home, the court heard.
But when she discovered she did not have her bank card to get cash to pay for a taxi, she decided to drive, according to her solicitor Keith Verrinder.
He said his client was extremely sorry and glad no-one else had been injured. He said she hoped to be able to continue in her job.


But magistrate Ann Evans said: "You were lucky not to have been seriously injured or killed — or worse still, how close you were to killing someone.

"You were inches away from taking the other car out."

Wilton was sentenced to eight weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete a community order with a requirement to complete 25 days of rehabilitation and 100 hours of unpaid work.

She must pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.

She was banned from driving for 32 months.