A PENSIONER who drove after drinking three pints of 'bog standard' beer was over the alcohol limit, heard Skipton Magistrates Court.

Alan Strafford, 67, was stopped by police on January 17 on Station Road, Cross Hills. Police had received information that he may have been drinking before driving and could have been over the limit, the court heard today (Friday). 

Following a positive roadside breath test, Strafford was taken to the police station where he was found to have 40 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Strafford, of Lang Kirk Close, Farnhill, admitted drink driving and told the court he would not be driving again.

"I had three pints of bog standard beer in two and a half hours and thought I would be all right. I can't argue with it, I was probably half a pint over," he said.

Magistrates banned him from driving for 12 months, fined him £120 and ordered him to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £48.

He declined the offer of taking up a drink-drivers rehabilitation course, which would have reduced his ban by 13 weeks, telling magistrates he was nearing 70 years old and would probably go down the mobility scooter route.