A driver whose progress was so erratic he was pulled over by a member of the public now faces a lengthy ban after refusing to give a breath test.
Edward Hudson was stopped as he drove to his home at Ronague Road, Arbory, on March 13. Another driver stopped him in Ronague Road and called the police.
Prosecutor Barry Swain said police found the 67-year-old along with the member of the public who had called them, near the Grenaby Road junction at around 7.30pm.
Hudson said he would normally restrict himself to two pints, but two more had been bought for him by friends so he had drunk them. He failed a breath test at the road side then said to police: ‘Come on, I was almost home. Can’t you just take me home, like in the old days?’ He was arrested and at the police station he refused to give a further breath sample. Advocate Stephen Wood said his client had a mistrust of the testing equipment after an inaccurate reading from a similar machine some years ago in the UK.
He said Hudson lived in a remote location so a driving ban would have a profound effect on him. He was fined £1,000 with £125 costs and banned from driving for five years.