Suspected drink-driver 'drove wrong way up Sheffield street'

Sheffield Magistrates’ Court heard on January 23 how Trevor Maribino, aged 23, was driving erratically on Carver Street, Sheffield city centre, when he was seen by police.

Robert Coyne, prosecuting, said: “Police officers saw the defendant was travelling at some speed and contrary to a one-way system on Carver Street.”

Maribino, of Pepper Gardens, Bramley, Leeds, stopped and provided a roadside breath test but later failed to provide an evidential breath-test specimen after he repeatedly failed to blow sufficiently into the machine.

The defendant, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a breath specimen for analysis as part of an investigation into whether he had committed an offence.

John Thompson, defending, said if Maribino loses his driving licence it will affect his work because he has to commute to Bradford.

Mr Thompson added that Maribino had been out during his girlfriend's birthday in Sheffield city centre but when she became lost he panicked and responded to a phone call to collect her by driving.

Mr Thompson claimed Maribino had struggled to get the hang of the breathalyser machine and his failure to provide a specimen was down to inability and not out of reluctance.

Magistrates sentenced Maribino to a community order with a four-month curfew and he must pay £85 costs and a £90 victim surcharge.

He was also disqualified from driving for 24 months.