Motorist refused to be tested twice in four months

A South Tyneside motorist who twice in four months refused to be tested when suspected of drink or drug driving has been spared jail.

- by Gareth Crickmer

Sophie Smith, 22, was handed an eight-week suspended prison term by a judge who also banned her from the roads for three years.

She committed her first offence after police stopped her red Vauxhall Corsa on the westbound Felling Bypass at Gateshead on Wednesday, November 27, last year.

Smith, of Hindmarch Drive, West Boldon, smelled of alcohol but claimed asthma prevented her from being breath tested, prosecutor Jonathan Moore said.