King’s Lynn life coach Indrė Ratkele banned from driving again after crashing on A1065 while disqualified

A life coach has been banned from driving yet again after crashing into another car 12 days before she was due to get her licence back.

Indrė Ratkele, of Higham Green in Fairstead, was back in the dock at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, two months after tearily pleading guilty to driving while disqualified and without due care and attention.

Her case had been adjourned for a pre-sentence report to take place.

The incident saw her get behind the wheel of a Volvo before colliding with another car on the A148 at Harpley on Saturday, July 12.

At the time, Ratkele was subject to an 18-month ban for drink-driving.

Prosecutor Simon Jessop told the court she was just 12 days away from being legally allowed back on the roads when she failed to slow down and hit the victim’s vehicle.

When she came to court in August, solicitor Ruth Johnson said in mitigation that the life coach, who is also a single mother, had been abstaining from alcohol since the crash, and has built an online community for people, which has been “transformative”.

On Thursday, magistrates handed her a 12-month community order and a six-month driving ban, which they admitted was “relatively lenient”.

She will need to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and ten rehabilitation activity requirement days.

On top of that, Ratkele has been ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £114 as well as £85 in court costs.

“If you do it again, you can be sent to prison,” the chair of the magistrates said.

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