Over-the limit driver in vehicle without lights on pulled out in front of police car
An over-the-limit motorist in a car with no lights on pulled out of a garage forecourt into the path of a police car, forcing the PSNI vehicle to brake to avoid a collision in Ballymena at 11.30pm on August 17 this year.
Ballymena Magistrates Court heard that following the incident at The Phoenix garage, police pulled the vehicle over and David McLaughlin (35), of Lettercreeve in the town, initially refused to open the door or wind down the window.
When taken to a police station he had an alcohol in breath reading of 89 - the legal limit is 35.
A defence barrister said "he is not a man who is going to appear before this court again".
District Judge Nigel Broderick said it was "quite a high reading".
The defendant was banned from driving for 14 months - will have to re-sit his test to get back on the roads - and was also fined £300.