A 52-year-old drink driver has been fined £1,500 and banned from the road for two years.

Richard Hewitt admitted the offence and was also ordered by magistrates to take an extended driving test at the end of his ban.

Prosecuting advocate Sara-Jayne Dodge told the court that police were on patrol in Port Erin on July 31, at 7pm.

They saw Hewitt’s Nissan Nivara parked on Church Road.

Information was received that he may be drink-driving and when officers checked, the vehicle had moved.

They headed towards the defendant’s home, at Howe Road in Port St Mary, and saw him driving.

He was spoken to and described as smelling of alcohol.

Hewitt told the officers that he had drunk a pint about 10 minutes earlier.

He failed a roadside breathalyser test and was subsequently arrested and taken to police headquarters.

Once there, a further test produced a reading of 52, above the legal limit of 35.

The court heard that Hewitt has no previous convictions.

Defence advocate Peter Taylor asked for credit to be given for his client’s guilty plea and his co-operation with the police throughout.

Hewitt said that he had been moving house on the day in question and had had a couple of drinks at lunchtime.

He said that he had then later gone for a Chinese, and had drunk a couple of pints while waiting for it.

Mr Taylor said that the defendant had miscalculated and that it had not been a deliberate attempt to drink-drive.

‘He was detained overnight, so he certainly had the seriousness of the matter brought home to him,’ said the advocate.

Mr Taylor went on to say that Hewitt’s job may be at risk as a result of losing his licence.

Magistrates also ordered the defendant to pay £125 prosecution costs, which he will pay, along with the fine, within two months.