Pleads guilty to second drink-driving offence

MILFORD motorist John Phillips has been ordered off the roads for three years after admitting his second drink-driving offence in two years.

Phillips, 33, of Ash Grove, Milford Haven was disqualified for 12 months in 2022 after pleading guilty to driving over the legal drink-drive limit.

But this week he found himself back in the dock after once again being stopped by police officers as he drove his vehicle through Tenby town centre after downing several pints with friends.

“Officers saw his Vauxhall Corsa travelling along the Narberth Road in Tenby and it was exceeding the speed limit,” Crown Prosecutor Abigail Jackson told Haverfordwest magistrates court.

“The officers turned their lights on for the vehicle to stop and they saw the defendant was sitting in the driver’s seat smoking a cigarette.”

Phillips told the officers he had drunk ‘a couple of pints’ earlier that evening. A roadside breath test proved positive and Phillips was taken to the police custody suite where two further breath tests were carried out. These gave a lower reading of 50 mcg. The prescribed legal limit is 35.

“He’d had a meal out with friends and it led to him having a number of pints,” his solicitor, Fenn Richards, told District Judge Mark Layton.

“He didn’t think he was over the limit when he left Tenby as he’d drunk a few hours earlier.”

Ms Richards described her client as ‘an ex alcoholic who has also had an issue with drugs’.

Phillips was disqualified from driving for three years. He was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £64 court surcharge.