A SKIPTON man who told police he had been the driver of a car and not his partner before then changing his story has been found guilty of drink driving and had his licence taken away for 52 months.

Jason Metcalfe, 36, told Skipton magistrates he had been drinking when he told Pc Adam Steventon it had been him and not his partner who had driven home to Heather View on June 22 last year.

Police had responded to a call saying his partner was suspected of drink driving and had turned up at their house, where the couple were standing outside. After she had provided a positive roadside test, Metcalfe then claimed it was he that had been driving and even signed a statement in the officer's notebook, Pc Steventon told the court yesterday.

Metcalfe was arrested and taken to Harrogate Police Station where he was found to have 117 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35. When he was interviewed the next day, he said his partner had driven home, but that he had reversed the car into a parking space

Metcalfe, who denied drink driving at court on Tuesday, said he and his partner, had been at a friend's barbecue and she had driven the half a mile home. The police had arrived and had proceeded to breathalyse his partner, and on the point of her being arrested, he claimed he had been the driver.

"I was under the influence of drink and I wanted to stop my missus being arrested so she could go to the children," he said.

Metcalfe, who the court heart suffered mental health problems and post traumatic stress, following violent assault when he was a teenager that left him in a coma, insisted he had not driven the car.

"I was lying to the police officer, I didn't want her arrested. If I had been sober, it would have been different, the alcohol made me see things differently, " he said.

Magistrates told Metcalfe, of Heather View, they did not find his evidence credible and after hearing he had a previous conviction for drink driving in 2016, banned him from driving for 52 months. He was also given a 12 month community order with up to 25 rehabilitation requirement activity days and a three month curfew between 8pm and 7am. He will also have to pay costs of £620 and a surcharge of £85.