26-Year-Old Accountant Cleared Of Drink-Driving After Best Friend’s Claims

A 26-year-old woman was cleared of drink-driving charges after ramming her Mercedes into another motorist in an incident that happened in May.

The woman was identified as Kelsey Riding, an accountant who was with her four children at that time. She claims to have accidentally accelerated back then, hitting a black Peugeot 308 on May 6 owned by a certain Clark Kidd.

Kidd explained that he was taking his pregnant wife at the time of the crash. He added that he initially asked for the insurance details but Ridings instead offered to pay him £1,000.

“I said there wasn't a chance of that because the chassis was bent over where she had hit me and we went over it back and forth. I asked her again for her insurance details and eventually she gave them, got into her car and sped off. I then rang the police and got nothing else from other than her name, insurance company and I had taken a picture of her registration,” Kidd said.

The man claimed that Ridings was slurring at that time, making him think that the accountant was drunk at the time. However, he said that he did not smell any alcohol.

Ridings was on her way back home after checking on a place she was thinking of renting to become a beauty salon. She ended up rushing to her best friend’s place, Paige Azad.

Police were able to trace the 26-year-old there and did a breath test. An initial breath test showed she had 124mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath - the legal limit being 35mg. A second test revealed that she had 82mg of alcohol in her system.

However, Azad claimed that she had given Ridings two large glasses of alcohol in 15 minutes to calm her down. The 26-year-old allegedly consumed a lot of vodkas and a bit of coke.

Further, Azad believed it would be ridiculous to think that Ridings drove while intoxicated and with her kids. One of them was Azad’s godchild.

Ridings also gave her testimony before the Tameside Magistrate Court and explained how she was coming around the bend of a hill when her car skidded as she was accelerating, ending up hitting the Peugeot of Kidd.

She also explained why she drove off.

“I drove off because other cars were beeping and he was aggressive and the kids were screaming. We were not getting anywhere. I went to Paige's house and there I was trying to calm down and I asked her to get me a drink. I was wanting to get picked up, I was shook up and had had a drink. I had two big drinks before I left her house and I got a lift home. He had been aggressive with me when he didn't really have a right to,” Ridings said.