Took a few pints and drove on the A1

Desmond Mark Rice, Graymount Crescent, Newtownabbey, was fined £350 last Thursday at Banbridge Magistrates Court for driving with excess alcohol in blood on February 4 this year. He was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

The court heard that at 1.30am police were travelling on the A1 near Dromore when they were overtaken by the defendant’s vehicle which was travelling at speed.

They stopped him and during the conversation they could smell alcohol on his breath. He failed a roadside test and was arrested and in custody an evidential breath test gave a reading of 47.

Rice then elected to have a blood sample taken and on analysis this gave a reading of 109.

A solicitor representing the defendant said he was a musician and had been playing in Newry that night.

He explained that he had taken a few pints and his driver had let him down.