A MAN was caught drink-driving on the M50 in Herefordshire as he headed back home after a day trip to Barry Island with his friends.

Hereford Magistrates Court heard how police had seen Xavier Fernando with other men at a Ross-on-Wye petrol station where cans of lager were being handed out by passengers.

Prosecution solicitor Melanie Winterflood said that it was due to this, and the manner of driving as the car headed down the M50, police pulled over Fernando's Vauxhall Corsa.

She said Fernando, 44, had 49 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, exceeding the legal limit of 35.

Philip Cornell, for Fernando, said he was a respected and responsible man who worked full-time.

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He said Fernando, of Wheelwright Lane in Coventry, had been to Barry Island in South Wales with his friends and it was on the way back he was stopped at the Newent junction of the M50.

He admitted to police he had drunk "a couple" of cans of lager.

Admitting one count of drink-driving during the court hearing on August 18, Fernando was banned from driving for 14 months.

He was also fined £300 by magistrates, and told to pay costs of £135 and £34 victim surcharge.