Drunk teacher turned up to school in wrecked car after crashing into colleague on way

A drunk teacher turned up to school in wrecked car after crashing into a colleague on way to work, the teaching regulator has heard.

At the scene of the accident, maths Siobhan Clarke confusedly pulled out her bank card thinking it was her phone, before driving her "crumpled" car with a cracked windscreen onto grounds. When the incident was reported to the headteacher, Mrs Clarke was found in a classroom acting "very muddled" and smelling of . She was arrested at the school after police found her to be over the legal limit, the hearing before a Teaching Regulation Agency panel was told.

Mrs Clarke was employed as a maths teacher at The Priory Academy secondary school in Lincoln from September 2014, having previously worked there as a learning assistant, the panel heard.

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The teacher admitted to the panel that she was involved in a crash on her way to work at the school in January 2023, left the scene of the accident and drove her damaged car onto the school's site.

The "disorientated" Mrs Clarke then walked from her parked car "with the intention of taking her normal class" and went to her classroom to teach, the panel was told.

The colleague she crashed into said they had been stopped at traffic lights at a pedestrian crossing.

As the lights turned green, a car "hit the rear of their vehicle", the hearing was told. "They recognised the driver as a teacher at the School at which they also worked," the panel heard.

The colleague did not think Mrs Clarke would be able to drive her car away because it was "very crumpled" and "the air bags had gone off," the hearing was told.

The maths teacher "rummaged in her handbag for her phone but instead pulled out her bank card", the panel heard.

Mrs Clarke "appeared very confused, she kept repeating herself and wasn't finishing her sentences. I would describe her as incoherent," the colleague told the panel, adding: "As she was talking she was slurring her words."

After the incident was reported, the school's headteacher went to look for Mrs Clarke and found her in the maths department, the panel was told.

The headteacher decided to call the police because they could smell alcohol and said she "seemed very muddled", the panel heard. The teacher was breathalysed, and found to be around three times over the legal limit, the hearing was told.

She was arrested and taken to the police station where she failed to provide a breath sample. Mrs Clarke was later convicted following a guilty plea, and disqualified from driving for 12 months, the hearing was told.

When school staff went to look at her car they saw "both airbags, deflated, the windscreen was cracked and there was damage to the front", the panel heard. She resigned from the school the same month, telling the panel she was "immensely sorry" for her actions.

David Oatley, on behalf of the Secretary of State, agreed with the panel's recommendation that it had been "a one-off incident", and drew short of banning Mrs Clarke from teaching.