A HOLIDAYMAKER whose wheelchair crashed into a parked car has been cleared of being drunk in charge of a carriage.

Stephanie Nevitt, of Haslington, near Crewe, said she’d only had a pint of cider and glass of wine before she arrived at Rhyl.

A PC told magistrates at Llandudno her speech had been slurred and she was drunk.

But the 44-year-old blamed her morphine medication for slurring and said she weaved in her wheelchair because of a problem with her coccyx. “If he had done a breathalyser test I would have been clear,” she said in evidence. “The officer misread the difference between taking morphine and alcohol.”

Her holiday had been “ruined.”

Defence solicitor Graham Parry said police could easily have carried out a breath test.

Court chairman Graham Edwards said: "It was unusual to be deciding on an 1872 legislation. However, that said, we find the prosecution haven’t proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.” The defendant’s list of medication could explain some of the actions and symptoms.

Sarah Marsh, prosecuting, said the alleged offence occurred in River Street, Rhyl, on June 1 and involved an electric-powered wheelchair. PC Jamie Thorp said he had been to a B and B and spoken to the owner.

Miss Nevitt, who he believed had been drunk, was asked to leave the location and she moved the wheelchair along the street, “swerving.” PC Thorp told the court the wheelchair hit a parked Ford Fiesta, causing marks. “She said ‘I am sorry’ repeatedly,” he recalled.

Miss Nevitt, never in trouble before, denied the offence.