Saturday 19 November 2022 08:56 PM Drunken head teacher from Nottinghamshire with three drink-driving arrests ... trends now
A drunken primary school head teacher who dodged jail after being arrested three times for drink driving has been banned from the classroom.
Sally Stafford, 46, tried desperately to cover up her shocking criminal record but was caught out when the former Chair of the Governors googled her convictions.
In one case, Stafford was almost three times the legal limit when she nearly crashed head on into an oncoming bus and narrowly missed a pedestrian in Belper on May 8, 2019.
Magistrates described the case as 'dreadful driving, involved nearly crashing into a bus head on and narrowly missing a pedestrian while nearly three times the drink-drive limit'.
At one stage, she was fired from her top job at Dalestorth Primary School in the market town of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire.
When she successfully applied for reinstatement, the Chair of the Governors, identified only as Witness A, was so disgusted that they resigned as Chair, but remained a governor.
Head teacher Sally Stafford (pictured), 46, has been banned from teaching after trying to hide three drink-driving convictions
Later Witness A got wind of the fact Stafford had been convicted of drink driving, which the school was not aware of - and was stunned when she did internet research on the head.
It revealed Stafford was arrested for drink driving in May 2019 and convicted in March 2020.
She arrested again for the same offence in August 2019, and convicted in November 2019 when she was given a six month ban, a £969 fine and ordered to pay £300 costs.
Two weeks before Christmas in December 2019, Stafford, Rainworth, near Mansfield, was arrested for drink driving and driving whilst disqualified.
On 13 December 2019 she was given an 8-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and a probation order, which included an alcohol treatment order. 7.
Teaching watchdogs were told she failed to report arrests or convictions she was still employed by the school.
Chris Ruston, who chaired the Teacher Regulation Agency hearing on November 4, said: 'Ms Stafford's actions were not a one-off lapse of judgment but involved repeated incidents.
'Ms Stafford was in a senior position at the school and on account of her actions was not able to discharge her duties safely.
'The panel also considered Ms Stafford's repeated and escalating driving offences
