AN off-duty Tesco employee was shopped by a fellow worker when he got into his car after appearing to be drunk and barely able to stand, Skipton magistrates heard.

Paul McGranaghan, 49, was described as if "struggling to stand on the deck of a ship in bad weather" when he turned up to buy tobacco before getting into his car and driving off, the court heard.

McGranaghan was told he could have been sent to prison, but was instead ordered to carry out 225 hours unpaid work and banned from driving for 52 months after magistrates heard he had a previous conviction for the identical offence of failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

The court heard that police were called after McGranaghan was served at the Skipton store at around 10.30pm on November 4.

They went to the address in Skipton where they had been told he was staying, found his car parked outside and the driver's seat still warm, said prosecutor Mark Robinson.

He agreed to a roadside breath test which proved positive at around twice the legal limit.

But at the police station, at around midnight, he twice refused to carry out a breath test and claimed he had not driven that day.

McGrahaghan was charged with failing to provide a specimen for analysis on November 5 and was due to represent himself at a Newton Hearing trial after denying the Crown Prosecution Service's version of events.

However, he changed his plea ahead of Monday's hearing and told magistrates he had been wrong to refuse to co-operate with the police and provide a specimen.

The court heard he had been in a difficult emotional state at the time and had just split up with a long-term partner.

He had been out drinking and had driven to the store not believing he was over the limit.

The court was told he had previously received an 18-month community order for failing to provide a specimen for analysis in 2008.

Magistrates told McGranaghan, of Pendle Street, Broughton Road, Skipton, that they had seriously considered custody, but had stepped back. They handed him an 18-month community order with supervision and 225 hours unpaid work. He was also banned from driving for 52 months and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victims surcharge of £60.