A PRINTER who foolishly decided to drive from Wrexham to his Llangollen home after he had been drinking at a party was banned from driving for 18 months.

Defendant Gareth Edward Jasper, 33, of Pengwern, Llangollen, appeared at North East Wales Magistrates’ Court at Mold and admitted driving with 82 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath compared to the legal limit of 35.

In addition to the driving ban, he was fined £553 with £85 costs and a £55 surcharge.

Magistrates were told that the ban would cause problems for him to travel from his home to his place of work on Deeside.

His partner would be able to help but she was pregnant and when the baby came it would be extremely difficult.

Prosecutor Justin Espie said the defendant was stopped at 1am on December 8 at Llangollen Road, Trevor, because of the manner of his driving.

He was arrested when he provided a positive roadside breath test.

Christie Ankers-Phillips, defending, said that her client had been out to a birthday party.

His partner, who was pregnant and due in May of next year, drove to the party where he had five or six drinks.

The partner left early and got a taxi home.

He later got a taxi back to her home in Wrexham.

But unfortunately he could not get in and he made a foolish decision to drive home to Llangollen when he was stopped by police.

“He regrets that now,” she said.

At the time he felt fine to drive.

She handed in two references from his employer.

He lived quite a distance from his place of employment, he worked a shift pattern and it would clearly be quite a challenge to get to work and back, she said.

Miss Ankers-Phillips asked that the court keep the driving ban to a minimum.

He was offered a drink drive rehabilitation course which if successfully completed would reduce his ban by a quarter.