A woman from Sweden living in Moray, Scotland, blamed stress from Brexit for a car crash, after driving four times over the alcohol limit and flipping her car.
The Daily Mail reports that Johanna Jeppson, 50, used Brexit stress as a defense in court to explain why she drove her car drunk in Kintessack, Moray, Scotland, after stressing about losing her benefits if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union in October, saying that Brexit would cause her “catastrophic debts.”
Jeppson told the judge that it was this stress that caused her to drink so much in the daytime on February 22. Her solicitor, Grant Daglish, told the court that the mounting stress finally got to his client.
‘This happened during a troubling time for her, as due to Brexit she was unable to apply for benefits which meant that she had to get a part-time job and was left in a difficult situation with catastrophic debt. She is not a U.K. citizen so cannot claim benefits and if she loses her license today, she could become homeless.”
He added that she is currently living in a remote part of Moray, which means that having a license is all the more important. Her parents are trying to help her out, but they live in Sweden.
Jeppson wasn’t hurt in the crash but she flipped her car into a ditch on the side of a rural road in Kintessack. Deputy Alex Swain testified in court that Jeppson was slurring her words and said that she had been drinking “throughout the day,” and decided to visit a friend.
“She had red staining on her lips, her speech was slurred, pupils dilated and she was rambling,” Swain explained.
The suspect refused to give a specimen. She was subsequently arrested and forced to give a breath test.
“A breath test at the station showed she had 107 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 milliliters of breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.”
Her lawyer said that Jeppson’s refusal to complete the test before her arrest was simply confusion about British laws and shock from the accident. To some degree, Jeppson’s explanation worked — she was fined $300 by the judge and was banned from driving for five months.
The judge might have shown Jeppson some sympathy, but Brits on Twitter didn’t, wondering what other crimes one could commit and claim “Brexit stress.”
One Twitter user said they will keep this excuse up their sleeve if they get caught breaking the law.
“Judge- so why exactly did you….? Me- seen red you honor, could not get # Brexit out of my head and the voices said to do it.”
