Drink and drug driver disqualified for three years following crash near Arundel

Joshua Biggs left his passenger in the vehicle and made no attempt to either help him or to get help for him

Author: Jo SymesPublished 1st Sep 2022

A drink and drug driver who rolled his vehicle upside down and then abandoned his passenger has been sentenced.

Joshua Biggs was approaching the A27 near Arundel when he lost control of his vehicle and hit a tree at about 11.30pm on January 28.

His car then rolled down into a ditch, but the 31-year-old managed to get free from the wreckage.

But he left his passenger in the vehicle and made no attempt to either help him or to get help for him.

Police stopped Biggs as he was seen walking along the carriageway half a mile away, and he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

PC Ant Baker from the Roads Policing Unit investigated the case, and said Biggs’s behaviour shows the selfish mindset of those who drink alcohol or take drugs then get behind the wheel.

Biggs provided a positive roadside breath test, showing 51 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

Later he gave a positive blood sample for alcohol in his blood. The blood test also revealed he had cannabis in his system above the drug-driving limit.

Biggs, unemployed, of Cheviot Close, East Preston, appeared before Crawley Magistrates’ Court on August 5 where he admitted driving over the prescribed limit for alcohol and driving over the prescribed limit for a class B drug.

He was disqualified from driving for three years, and the court ordered him to complete 120 days of alcohol abstinence as part of a ten-week suspended prison sentence.

The court ordered Biggs to complete ten rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days, and to pay ÂŁ85 court costs and a ÂŁ128 victim surcharge.

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