Caistor man, 29, banned after driving while two-and-a-half times over the limit

Police had received a tip-off about a Vauxhall van being driven earlier this month.

Officers located the vehicle parked at a food store in Caistor High Street and waited for the driver to return.

Peter Hand, 29, soon got in and drove off and was stopped in North Kelsey Road at about 8.30pm on August 7.

He said he’d had a drink about five minutes earlier so officers waited about 15 minutes before conducting a roadside breath test.

Hand, of Partridge Close, failed that and was arrested. In custody he blew 93 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35.

Appearing before Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (August 25), Hand pleaded guilty to drink-driving.

Rebecca Freitas, mitigating, said her client had consumed several pints that morning, but thought the alcohol would have been out of his system by the time he drove.

“Clearly with the reading being 93, that wasn’t the case,” she added.

Hand was banned from driving for 23 months, which can be cut with completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

He was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £34 victim surcharge.