A FATHER whose daughter was "robbed of her future" by a drink driver is asking YOU not to touch a drop of alcohol before getting behind the wheel this summer.
As both Humberside and Lincolnshire police forces launch their seasonal clampdowns on drink and drug driving this weekend, Martin Rowntree has appealed to Grimsby Telegraph readers to never drink alcohol and drive.
The 60-year-old has no way of knowing whether he would have been walking daughter Donna down the aisle this summer or even playing with his grandchildren, because she was tragically killed in April 2005, aged just 21.
The man responsible, Dean Stepan, was almost twice the drink-drive limit when his Ford Escort ploughed into the Citroen Xantia, which Donna was travelling in, at the junction of Heneage Road and Granville Street, Grimsby.
Martin said: "The message is very simple – just don't drink and drive.
"I know first-hand how devastating the consequences can be if you do. My daughter was robbed of her future.
"People, particularly younger people, don't seem to think anything will happen to them if they do drink and drive, but it will."
Stepan, of Pelham Road, Immingham, was sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from driving for 10 years after Donna's death but shockingly he ignored the disqualification and got back behind the wheel – leading to a court appearance in January this year.
He has now been disqualified from driving for life.
Former Bluecrest worker, Martin, added: "It's eight years and six weeks since Donna died and I still think of her every day and take flowers to her grave every few weeks.
"You learn how to handle the grief, but you never forget.
"I often wonder what she would have been doing now and the kind of woman she would have become.
"She could have been married or had children but that was taken away from her."
To report somebody you suspect of driving under the influence of drink or drugs, call your local police force on 101.
Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership's Summer Drink Drive campaign leaflet