A Milford motorist has been ordered not to get behind the wheel of a vehicle for a year, after pleading guilty to a drink-drive charge in court.

Fifty-three-year-old Lawrence Hughes, of Charles Street, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, charged with driving his VW transporter on the A4076 in Dredgeman’s Hill, after exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol.

Prosecutor Dennis Davies told the court that Mr. Hughes was pulled over by police at 8.10 am on the morning of November 12, after he’d been spotted committing a moving traffic offence in Haverfordwest.

“When officers spoke to the defendant in his vehicle, he smelt of alcohol,” he explained.

A reading of 45 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath was provided at the police station. Mr. Hughes had a previous matter of a similar nature on record the court was told.

Defence solicitor Jonathan Webb told the court that Mr. Hughes had consumed alcohol that weekend but thought he’d be ok to drive to a hospital appointment that morning.

“He was not that far off the legal limit, but enough to lose his driving licence.

“Mr Hughes has had serious health matters and is receiving medical treatment for secondary melanoma cancer. That particular weekend, things had got on top of him, and he’d been drinking heavily,” continued Mr. Webb, explaining that the defendant’s previous drink-drive related offence dated back to 2002.

Magistrates disqualified Mr. Hughes from driving for 12 months and fined him £160 for the offence.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.