Halifax doctor in court for drink driving after husband alerts police

Clare Holdsworth, 43, a consultant anaesthetist, was stopped by police yards from her home just after 9am last October.

They had been alerted after her husband called 999 to warn them his wife was drunk and had taken his car, which she was not insured to drive, to buy more alcohol.

After she was stopped, Holdsworth refused to give a breath test and pleaded with officers to let her go home.

She refused to get out of the car then reached for a bottle of vodka and mixer.

She screamed as officers tried to arrest her.

Holdsworth recorded 135mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcgs.

Holdsworth, of High Street, Luddenden, Halifax, who has worked as a consultant anaesthetist in Calderdale and Huddersfield since 2005, has been suspended since December 2010 after she admitted to her manager she had once had a drink while she was on duty.

Malcolm Nowell, defending, told Calderdale Magistrates that Holdsworth had been battling an alcohol addiction.

Mr Nowell told the hearing: “She has always been able to cope with the demands of the job and thought she had a good relationship with her boss. She mentioned the difficulties she was having and that on one occasion she had had a drink while on duty.

“She thought that would be met with some sympathy and understanding, but she was reported to the GMC.

“She had drunk a significant amount on the night before the offence.

“She was stopped because her partner called the police because he was concerned for her and for the public,” Mr Nowell told Calderdale Magistrates Court.

Holdsworth admitted driving while over the limit and without insurance. She will be sentenced in June and has been banned from driving until then.