Driver is caught well over the legal drink drive limit

Edvinas Olisauskas (27), Coronation Street, Portadown, was fined £235 last Friday at Craigavon Magistrates Court for excess alcohol in breath on April 19 this year.

He was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

For not having insurance he was fined £250.

Conditional discharges of 12 months were imposed for not having a licence or a vehicle test certificate.

The court heard that a police patrol saw a car with a defective brake light sitting at traffic lights in High Street, Portadown.

It drove off and while turning into a junction at Northway it was swerving erratically, nearly hitting a kerb.

Police stopped the vehicle and spoke to the defendant who was driving. There was a strong smell of alcohol from his breath.

A roadside test gave a reading of 92 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath while an evidential test gave a reading of 101 - the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

A solicitor representing the defendant said the matters were aggravated by the high reading.

He explained that his client had only purchased the car the day before and had not got round to getting insurance.

The solicitor added that the defendant had been drinking at home with a friend and made the foolish decision to drive his friend home.