Red Lodge woman banned from driving after A11 incident

Faith McNab-Thompson, of Fennel Drive in Red Lodge, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen for analysis at Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Friday, June 7. 

It follows a report police received in the early hours of Sunday, March 24, where a black Audi A1 was reportedly seen veering across the road in the Mildenhall area. 

The Fiveways roundabout (Image: Newsquest)

The car almost hit a traffic island and was driving at 30mph in a 60mph zone, Suffolk police said.

At about 2.45am, police saw the car travelling towards the Fiveways roundabout along the A1065 and attempted to instruct the driver to pull into the services.

It continued beyond the service station, joining the A11 towards Thetford. The driver eventually came to a stop on the carriageway. 

One lane of the A11 was closed while McNab-Thompson was spoken to, as officers deemed the driver not fit to continue behind the wheel. 

Her speech was slurred, she was unsteady on her fit and was not fully alert.

McNab-Thompson was asked to perform a roadside breath test which she passed, but when the officers then asked her to take a drug test, she refused to do so and was arrested.

While in custody, she refused to provide a sample of blood for analysis and was subsequently charged.

As well as being banned from driving for three years, she was ordered to complete a 12-month community order, requiring her to undertake rehabilitation activity and was given a three-month curfew requirement, applicable between 8pm and 7am each day. 

She was also ordered to pay costs totalling £199. 

PC Georgia Goreham, of the Mildenhall Response Investigation Team, said: “Faith McNab-Thompson was clearly in no fit state to drive and the dangerous manner in which she was handling her car is frightening to think about.

“She was oblivious to our initial requests for her to pull over and to then perform what was essentially an emergency stop on a dual-carriageway was extremely reckless."