AN off-licence manager has been lucky to escape jail after repeatedly drink driving.

Usman Ali, of Park Drive in Gledholt, was given a suspended sentence by Huddersfield magistrates after driving drunk with friends and then refusing to give a breath test.

The bench was told that the 25-year-old had two previous convictions for similar offences.

They heard that the young dad, who runs his family’s off-licence, turned to booze as he struggled to deal with family problems.

Magistrates were told that on March 10 Ali had been seen by police driving along Meltham Road in the early hours of the morning.

The officers had been concerned that his headlights were not on but when they stopped him his voice was slurring and he was unsteady on his feet.

Ali was arrested and taken to Huddersfield police station where he refused to take the breath test properly.

However, some samples taken ranged between 72 and 83 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Magistrates were told that Ali has two previous convictions for drink driving from February 2008 and December last year.

He was banned from driving on each occasion.

His lawyer, Ashfaq Choudhry, said Ali had been having personal problems, including falling out with his parents when he moved in with his partner and had a child out of wedlock.

He said: “There were tensions in the family and he dealt with that by turning to drink.

“He works within his family’s off licence and is surrounded by alcohol. He would drink to relieve himself from the pressure.

“On the day (of the police incident) he had little regard for the fact that he was over the limit.

“The root cause (of his problems) is his drinking and his inability to deal with emotional problems without drink.”

Mr Choudhry added that his client was running the shop because his family are in Pakistan and he works long hours to support his partner and young child.

But magistrates told him that the offence was serious and sentenced him to 20 weeks in custody, suspended for a year.

They banned him from driving for four years and ordered him to attend an alcohol treatment programme.

Finally Ali was told to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £250 costs.

Chairman David Lewis said: “We take a very dim view of your actions. I think you should go to custody but we’re going to give you a chance to sort out your alcohol problem.

“You’re a young man with a family to support and it’s about time you started thinking about your family”.