MMT Driver Banned For Alcoholism

A driver of the Metro Mass Transit Limited, Joseph Kissi, has been banned from driving for the next 12 months after he was convicted by the Motor Court in Accra for unauthorised parking, driving under the influence of alcohol and causing danger to other road users among other offences.

The incident, as narrated by Prosecutor Inspector E. M. Quam, was that on May 23, this year, the convicted driver was driving a Metro Mass bus with registration number GW 1503 U from Kasoa to Accra with passengers on board.

Inspector Quam said the driver stopped in the middle of the road at the Liberty House to discharge passengers and also pick others instead of entering the Liberty House Bus Terminal.

This behaviour, according to him, stunned a senior police officer, Superintendent S. K. Ntim, who got down from a police vehicle to question the driver.

He, however, found out that the driver's breath reeked of alcohol and so the driver was taken to the police station to be tested with Alco Sensor III, which read 0.38 per cent, “ an amount far above the legally permitted level of 0.08 per cent.

Mr Kissi's behaviour was judged by the court to be a threat to human lives on the road and was therefore charged with the offences.

The Motor Court, presided over by Mr Samuel Obeng, fined him ¢7,200,000 on each count to run concurrently,in default f which he will serve six months in hard labour. Further, he has been banned from driving for 12 months.