Schoolboy '˜thought he was ok to drive' friends home

Joseph Ethan Reed, 18, of Causeway, Wyberton, admitted driving with excess alcohol in Tower Road, Boston on April 6, when he appeared at Boston Magistrates Court.

The court heard that he was stopped by the police at 12.45am in his VW Polo car and gave a positive reading of 53 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Mitigating, Carrie Simpson, said Reed was taking his A-levels and hoped to become an accountant.

She said he was giving friends a lift home and thought he was ‘OK to drive’.

Reed was banned from driving for 14 months but was offered the drink drivers’ rehabilitation course which would reduce the period of the ban by 14 weeks.

After hearing he had no income, he was fined £60 and ordered to pay £30 in charges.