A MAN from Creech St Michael has been banned from driving for 18 months and fined over £2,000 after being found guilty of drink-driving.
On October 20, Jonathan Richard Side, of St Michael Road, drove a Mercedes SL350 on the M48 near Chepstow, Monmouthshire, when the proportion of alcohol in his breath measured 65 micrograms per 100 millilitres.
The legal drink-driving limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Side, 53, pleaded not guilty at Newport Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, January 11.
He was found guilty and sentenced on Friday, March 11.
Side was fined £2,625 and ordered to pay costs of £620 to the Crown Prosecution Service and a £190 surcharge to fund victim services.
He has until Friday, April 8 to pay his £3,435 court bill.
Side was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 18 months.
Court documents say disqualification was "obligatory for the offence".
His driving ban will be reduced by 20 weeks if he "satisfactorily completes" an approved course by February 26, 2023.
The cost of the course will not exceed £250.
On January 11, Side pleaded guilty to driving on a public road without third-party insurance on the M48 on same day as the drink-driving offence.
He did not receive a seperate penalty when he was sentenced on Friday.
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