Drunk train driver sentenced

A train driver has been sentenced after he ran through a red light while over the legal alcohol limit.

Ian Pickering, 56, of Jubilee Drive in Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, was sentenced today (25 May 2023) at Birmingham Crown Court to an 18-month community order which includes regular contact with the Probation Service and he must also attend 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also ordered to pay costs of £425.

Pickering, who had been a train driver for 35 years, drove through a red signal at Birmingham New Street station with 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath on 30 December 2022.

Although he immediately reported the incident, he failed the train company’s breathalyser test and further tests by police showed that he was dangerously over the drink-driving limit for train drivers.

Following his arrest, Pickering pleaded guilty to being over the legal alcohol limit as a transport worker and to endangering the safety of passengers.

Eleese Hatton of the CPS said: “Ian Pickering disregarded his duty of care as a public sector worker when he drove a train while intoxicated, endangering the lives of many innocent passengers. This type of reckless behaviour will not be tolerated, and the CPS will prosecute offenders like Ian Pickering as the law allows.”