A SKIPTON drink-driver who admitted being almost three times the alcohol limit has been banned from the road.

George Holder, 60, of Clover Court, pleased guilty at Skipton Magistrates' Court to having 102 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath in Clover Hill, Skipton, on September 2. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Magistrates were told a member of the public had reported seeing someone, apparently in drink, getting into a car and driving off. The registration number was given to police and they stopped him as he was driving towards his home at 3.40pm. He told police he had not had a drink since that morning and had decided to go to a shop in Sackville Street in his car.

Holder, a sheet metal worker,who had recently returned to the UK after 20 years in South Africa, was disqualified from drivng for 25 months and was given a 12 month community order of 60 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay a surcharge of £114 and costs of £85. 

He was also offered the chance to complete a drink-drive rehabilitation course when could reduce his disqualification by 25 weeks if successful.