A FARMWORKER who made a “foolhardy” decision to get behind the wheel of his car after drinking in Frome has been given a 14-month driving ban by magistrates.

Oliver Ashley Bishop was at a party when he found himself “abandoned” by a promised lift and decided to drive himself and another passenger home.

However, when police spotted him driving at speed around a roundabout and then started overtaking other vehicles, they pulled him over and he failed a roadside breath test.

Bishop, 20, of Crate Lane, Sedgehill, Wiltshire, admitted driving a VW Golf on the A361 at Frome after consuming excess alcohol on June 23.

Somerset Magistrates, sitting at Yeovil, were told that the defendant was driving his vehicle shortly after 2am when he was seen by police on duty.

He accelerated off the roundabout and overtook other vehicles, so the officers pulled him over and he was slurring his words then failed a breath test.

He was taken into custody and a further test revealed a reading of 52mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg of alcohol.

The court was told that Bishop had been at a party when the person he had made arrangements to have a lift with went home before he was ready and he was left abandoned.

“He then made the foolhardy and stupid decision drive his car and also to take a passenger with him,” said defending solicitor Mr McGhee.

“They were going to an address near to where he was stopped and fully accepts that having consumed a considerable amount of alcohol he posed a danger to himself, his passenger and other road users.

“This case will act as a wake-up call to him, and he will not come to court again in the future.”

The magistrate disqualified Bishop from driving for 14 months and fined him £184 with £85 costs and a £74 victim surcharge.