A groom and dressage rider has been banned from driving after she took her mother on an errand while high on cocaine and caused a three-car smash.
Caroline Hoyle, 40, accidentally ploughed her VW Golf head-on into two other vehicles after she lost control and hit a kerb on A538 Altrincham Road in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Police were called to the scene on May 28 last year. At the roadside, they tested mother-of-two Hoyle and discovered she was four times over the limit for Benzoylecgonine (BZE), a breakdown product of cocaine.
Inquiries revealed she had initially hit an oncoming Range Rover before ricocheting into a Volkswagen Polo. Both Hoyle and her mother were injured, but it is not thought anyone else was hurt in the crash.
At Chester magistrates court, Hoyle, from Mobberley, near Knutsford, was ordered to complete 120 hours unpaid work as part of a 12 month community order and pay court costs and a victim surcharge of £1,095.
Groom and dressage rider Caroline Hoyle has been banned from driving after she took her mother on an errand while high on cocaine and caused a three-car smash
Representing herself in court, Hoyle said: ‘I am sorry, really it is not a lifestyle I lead. It was just a moment of… it was an accident’
She was convicted of drug driving at an earlier hearing. She denied wrongdoing.
Hoyle, who helped organise Lullaby Ball events in Cheshire and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for research into sudden infants death syndrome, claimed snorting the drug was ‘not part of her lifestyle.’
Representing herself, Hoyle said: ‘I am sorry, really it is not a lifestyle I lead. It was just a moment of… it was an accident.’
When asked about her employment situation and earnings, she told the court that she works as a groom and dressage rider but that the inevitable driving disqualification will now limit her work.
‘I am a single parent and I need to make sure that I can get my children to school and pick them up each day.
‘Obviously my ability to work will be massively affected too, which I take responsibility for, but my earnings are going to be significantly reduced as a result.
‘The injuries were mainly to me and my mum. My mum is fine. There were no injuries to children or anything. It was mainly me.’
Caroline Hoyle, 40, accidentally ploughed her VW Golf head-on into two other vehicles after she lost control and hit a kerb on A538 Altrincham Road in Wilmslow, Cheshire
When asked about her employment situation and earnings, she told the court that she works as a groom and dressage rider but that the inevitable driving disqualification will now limit her work
At Chester magistrates court, Hoyle, from Mobberley, near Knutsford, was ordered to complete 120 hours unpaid work as part of a 12 month community order and pay court costs and a victim surcharge of £1,095
Jessica Pridding, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant clipped the near side kerb and collided with a Range Rover which was travelling towards Manchester Airport.
‘She then continued along the carriageway before colliding head-on with a Volkswagen Polo also travelling towards Manchester Airport.
‘The defendant and the front seat passenger were trapped in the vehicle.
‘When police arrived at the scene they carried out a field impairment test, which indicated the presence of cocaine. When conveyed to hospital she provided a sample of blood indicating a the presence of benzoylecgonine greater than 200 micrograms per litre, the legal limit being 50mcg/l. This defendant has no previous convictions.’