Hero bouncers stop drunk driver; court told

Prosecutors have told of how door staff at a Southport nightclub stood in the road to stop a car they believed was being driven by a drink driver.

John Boardman, 54, of Warwick Street, Southport, pleaded guilty to driving with 75 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, when he appeared at Sefton Magistrates Court on July 24. The legal limit is 35mcg/100ml.

Sarah Egan, prosecuting, said that Boardman had fallen and dropped his car key on West Street, Southport, at just after midnight on July 6.

He was helped by door staff working at a nearby nightclub, who then saw him stumble down the road towards his car where he struggled to manually unlock the door.

Mrs Egan said that when approached by the concerned nightclub security staff, Boardman promised he was not going to drive as he was getting picked up.

Afterwards, however, the headlights were switched on and he started to drive the car down West Street.
Mrs Egan said that the nightclub staff stood in the road to stop the car following which they removed the ignition key.

The court heard that Boardman argued that he’d only had a few pints and then walked off towards Coronation Walk where he was stopped by police.

The prosecutor said that Boardman had 12 convictions for 15 offences, including for drink driving in 2013.

Since he now had two drink drive convic- tion within ten years, he would be subject to a mandatory minimum ban of three years, Mrs Egan said.

The door staff were working near to Hey Amigos but may have been employed by another establishment.

The magistrates adjourned till August 20 for probation reports.