Drink-driving: Man loses licence after emergency hospital trip

A man has lost his licence after drink-driving a child to a hospital, fearing an ambulance would not arrive in time.

Liam Goodall-Keen, 35, from Gayton on Merseyside, drove his four-year-old godson to Glan Clwyd Hospital, in Denbighshire, while over the limit.

Magistrates in Llandudno heard no attempt to seek help or dial 999 was made after the suspected asthma attack.

They refused to accept the to accept the situation amounted to special circumstances.

Plasterer Goodall-Keen was arrested in the car park of the hospital after being followed by an unmarked police car.

He admitted drink-driving at an earlier hearing in August.

'Consider the circumstances'

A breath test reading found he had 52 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35mg.

The court was told Goodall-Keen wanted magistrates to consider the circumstances before deciding to impose a ban.

Solicitor Huw Roberts said the defendant had been visiting friends at a Rhyl holiday park in July for a barbecue, when his young godson had a suspected asthma attack.

The incident followed earlier discussions with another holidaymaker on the site describing how they had to wait four hours for an ambulance to attend when a girl fainted in a swimming pool area the day before.

'An emergency situation'

The defendant said he was so concerned that they may have to wait that he decided to drive his godson and the boy's father to hospital, despite having drunk three cans of lager.

"It was an emergency situation," Goodall-Keen told the court.

Asked what he was worried about, he said he feared the child would die.

"If I was put in the situation again and I was going to save a child's life, I'd do it again," he added.

The child's father told the court they had been panicking when his son started having difficulty breathing, and had been concerned about whether they would face a long wait for 999 help.

"Liam offered to drive us - I would have done the same for Liam if it was his kids," the father said.

Not a 'genuine emergency'

But under cross-examination, the defendant confirmed that neither he or his godson's family had dialled 999 or considered finding other help, including a taxi to take them the five miles to the hospital.

Chair of the magistrates Ann Dickinson said while the court was empathetic to the situation and it was a "genuine emergency", he should have explored other genuine avenues to respond - and he had not.

The court heard he also had a conviction for drug-driving in 2019 and had been disqualified from driving for a year for that offence.

Sentencing for the latest drink-drive offence, the court banned Goodall-Keen from driving for three years, with a reduction if he completes a rehabilitation course, and imposed a fine of £660, a victim surcharge of £266 and £85 costs.