A New Hedges man who claimed he was responding to a family emergency when taking the decision to drive over the limit has been handed a lengthy motoring ban in court.

Twenty-five-year-old William Michael Cowan, of Cross Park, Twycross, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to admit a charge of driving his Ford Focus after exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that the defendant was stopped by police on routine patrol on Sydney Rees Way in Haverfordwest on October 27 at 1.30 am, after they spotted him driving with a defective headlight.

“When officers spoke to Mr. Cowan, he immediately smelt of intoxicants. A roadside breath test came back with a reading of 70.

“He said to officers ‘I’ve lost my licence now haven’t I?’ - and the reading provided at the station came back as 81 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - so in reality, he was more than twice the legal limit,” he added.

Defence solicitor Mike Kelleher told the court that his client had no intention of driving that night, but his father who lived in Tenby had phoned him to say that he was experiencing muscular pains around his chest and couldn’t get up from his seat.

“In a panic, not surprisingly Mr. Cowan went to drive thinking that he was the only family member available with a key, and he was worried that if the ambulance came to tend to his father, they wouldn’t be able to get in.

“Of course, they could have broken down the door, but in Mr. Cowan’s own mind it was an emergency,” he added.

Magistrates handed Mr. Cowan a 20-month driving disqualification and fined him £120 for the offence.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £32 victim surcharge.