A HUSBAND and wife faced Wirral Magistrates for drink-driving.

Joyce Marjorie Lloyd-Jones, aged 51, of Thornton Crescent, Gayton, was detained outside the Heswall restaurant where they had taken a meal.

Ernest William Lloyd-Jones, 51, of the same address, was arrested when he followed his wife to Bromborough Police Station.

Both pleaded guilty when they faced the court. They were each fined £500 plus £35 costs and each collected a two-year disqualification.

Prosecutor Jenny Williams told how their Honda Accord car was taken to the park at Heswall Police Station for safe keeping after the wife was arrested.

The car later disappeared and police patrols were advised the driver might be drunk. It was stopped with the husband at the wheel.

Mrs Lloyd-Jones blew a reading of over two-and-a-half times the limit. Mr Lloyd-Jones blew a reading of just over double.

Simon Heaney, defending, told how both were horrifically ashamed of their behaviour. He said Mr Lloyd-Jones became ill after the meal and his wife went to the car to get a mobile phone to call for an ambulance. She then stupidly drove the short distance back to the restaurant to find her husband had recovered somewhat and had left the premises, he said. The police then became involved.

Mr Lloyd-Jones panicked about his wife and foolishly took the car to follow her to Bromborough Police Station, where she had been taken.

The solicitor said the couple were involved with a business which had considerable financial difficulties and which had recently taken a turn for the worse. The compulsory driving bans could put the final nail in the business coffin.

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