A Milford man has been given a three-year driving ban after admitting getting behind the wheel of his vehicle drunk.
Fifty-three-year-old Ian John Thomas, of Hilton Avenue, pleaded guilty to driving his Nissan van on January 22, with a reading of 113 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, exceeding the prescribed limit, when he appeared at Haverfordwest magistrates court on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Sian Vaughan told magistrates that a police officer on patrol that night observed Mr. Thomas on a road in Milford Haven and failing to negotiate a turn properly, and driving over a grass verge.
“The defendant’s vehicle was then swerving from side to side on the road and following another turn, nearly went into a parked vehicle.
“The officer put the blue lights on to signal to Mr. Thomas to pull over on Coombes Drive, and when he did stop, he nearly reversed into the police car, with the officer himself having to reverse to avoid a collision.
“The officer could smell intoxicants on Mr. Thomas, who has a conviction for a similar drink-driving offence in 2009,” added Ms Vaughan.
Defence solicitor Mike Kelleher told the court that his client had made a very ‘stupid and ill-formed’ decision to drive.
“The ridiculous thing is that he’d had a few drinks that night and got home from the pub and gone to sleep, but suddenly woke up to realise that he’d forgotten his mobile phone out.
“As he needed it for work purposes, he had this all consuming thought in his head that he had to get his phone back.
“Mr. Thomas works as an excavator driver, so it’s quite possible he will lose his job,” he added.
Magistrates disqualified Mr. Thomas from driving for three years and fined him £585 for the offence.
He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £58.50 victim surcharge.