Ex-Coleraine player caught drunk behind wheel as he drove at 5mph

A FORMER Coleraine FC player was more than three times the drink limit when he was spotted driving at five miles per hour through the town last month, a court has heard.

Kenny McCandless (66), from Willowfield Park, Coleraine, admitted offences including driving with excess alcohol and dangerous driving at the town’s Magistrates’ Court.

He received an 18-month driving ban and was fined £800.

Defence solicitor Denise Gillan said her client, who played for his hometown football club in the 1970s, had no criminal record and had been driving for almost half a century without incident.

She added he was “absolutely mortified” by what he had done and wished to apologise.

A prosecutor explained that on April 15, police received a report from a member of the public that they had observed a man, unsteady on his feet, getting into a car and driving off.

The vehicle mounted kerbs and collided with a van, leaving a wing mirror behind.

The defendant had a reading of 106 with the legal limit being 35 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath.

Ms Gillan said her client had never been in court and the retired credit company manager had been driving blemish-free for almost 50 years.

She added that McCandless’s wife goes out shopping every week and the defendant decided to drive to Coleraine Station and head to Belfast for lunch with his daughter.

However, after his daughter was unable to attend, he went to a few pubs in Belfast before getting public transport back to Coleraine.

Instead of walking home, Ms Gillan said McCandless intended to get a taxi, but when he “spied” his car he got behind the wheel.

Ms Gillan said a witness saw McCandless driving at “five miles per hour”.

She added that when caught, her client admitted the offence straight away and “didn’t try the old hip flask defence”.

She said the defendant was “absolutely mortified”. He wished to apologise to the court and police and he was “thankful nobody was hurt” by his driving and he had “learned his lesson”.

She said he has now applied to do charity work.

District Judge Liam McNally said in light of the high reading he had been considering a suspended sentence, but he had to factor in the clear record.

He believed McCandless appreciated the risk he posed to other people by driving with a reading of 106.

The judge said such a reading was, in many circumstances, “quite unforgivable”, but said he had to balance that with it being the defendant’s first mistake in nearly 50 years.

McCandless pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, dangerous driving and failing to remain at the scene and report an accident.