A motorist caught drink-driving over the Christmas period has been fined £1,000 and banned for a year.

Peter Acheampong was stopped by police outside the Villa Marina on December 28 and failed a breathalyser test with a reading of 44.

Magistrates also ordered the 33-year-old to take an extended driving test at the end of his ban, and to pay £125 prosecution costs.

Prosecuting advocate Roger Kane told the court that Acheampong was driving a white Mercedes C class at 1.55am, on Douglas Promenade.

Police stopped him outside the Villa, after concerns over the manner of his driving.

When the officers spoke to him, they described him as smelling of alcohol, and he failed a roadside breathalyser test.

Acheampong was arrested and taken to police headquarters, where a further test produced a reading of 44, above the limit of 35.

He told police: ‘I just had one bottle of blue WKD.’

The court heard that the defendant had no previous convictions.

Appearing before magistrates on January 8, Acheampong, of Governor’s Hill, Douglas, was represented by advocate Jane Gray.

Ms Gray said that, on the night of the offence, the defendant had been at a gathering at a friend’s house.

He admitted that he had drunk a couple of glasses of fruit punch throughout the evening, after arriving there at around 8pm.

Acheampong said that he had then drunk the bottle of WKD about an hour before leaving, and had thought that he felt fine to drive.

Ms Gray asked for credit to be given for her client’s guilty plea and his co-operation with the police.

Magistrates chair Julian Ashcroft told Acheampong: ‘We see the same excuses time after time.

‘People say they felt fine to drive.’

He will pay the fine and costs at a rate of £200 per month.