A DRIVER who got behind the wheel while three-and-half times over the limit claimed he was moving his car after yobs damaged it.
Kimberley Leigh caught the attention of police because his front window was smashed.
And he was lucky to escape prison as it was revealed that this was his fifth drink-driving offence.
Officers pulled over the 40-year-old’s Volkswagen Golf as he drove along Leeds Road, Hillhouse, late on July 9.
Andy Wills, prosecuting, said: “They noticed the car because of the smashed window and also because he failed to stop at a red traffic light.”
The car was stopped on Hillhouse Lane and Leigh was spoken with.
He appeared under the influence but was arrested after refusing to cooperate with a breath test at the roadside.
Leigh did volunteer that he had some cannabis in his back pocket as he was taken to Huddersfield Police Station.
Tests there revealed that he had 120 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
This was almost three-and-a-half times the legal limit of 35 microgrammes.
Leigh pleaded guilty to driving whilst over the prescribed limit and possession of a class B drug.
Magistrates heard that he already had drink-driving convictions on his record from 1997, 1998, 2001 and April 2013 when he was banned from driving for 26 months.
Victoria Sims, mitigating, explained that during the evening her client had been at a friend’s house and had no intention of driving home.
She told the court: “He noticed a group of youths outside causing damage to his vehicle and went ouside to confront them.
“At that point the decided to move the vehicle away and then made the foolish decision to drive home.”
Miss Sims added that Leigh initally refused to give a roadside breath sample as he’d been through the proceedure before and just wanted “to be taken to the police station and get on with it.”
Magistrates were told that Leigh, of Whitechapel Road in Cleckheaton, had turned to alcohol throughout his life to cope with difficulties.
Miss Sims said: “He has a lengthy record in relation to driving matters and his offending is quite clearly linked to the use of his alcohol.”
Magistrates sentenced Leigh to a 12-month community order as a direct alternative to custody,
As part of this he must comply with nine months of alcohol treatment and complete 15 days of rehabilitation activities.
He was banned from driving for 40 months and told to pay £85 court costs and £85 victim surcharge.
The cannabis found on him will be forfeited and destroyed.
