Driver over the limit after '˜making merry' on St Patrick's Day

A man who was more than three times the drink drive limit after 'making merry' on St Patrick's Day has been banned from driving for two years and ordered to do 70 hours of unpaid work.

Seamus Carey (47), whose address was given as Glenravel Road, Martinstown, was detected on March 17 this year at the Cushendall Road.

A previous hearing at Ballymena Magistrates Court was told police saw a Ford Mondeo cross a central white line and when the vehicle was stopped they noted the smell of alcohol.

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The defendant had a reading of 111 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit being 35 microgrammes.

Defence solicitor Liam McKendry told the earlier hearing the defendant, like many others, had been “making merry” on St Patrick’s Day.

The matter had been adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared and the defendant was back in the same court on Thursday, April 26.

Mr McKendry said his client had displayed “very poor judgement” to drive.

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District Judge Peter King said: “The reading is significantly more than three times the limit, a straight disqualification is not sufficient.”

The judge told the defendant: “This was a gross amount of alcohol in your system.”