A drink-driver has been fined £1,000 and banned from the roads for a year.

Alexander Ian Humphries failed a breathalyser test with a reading of 42 after police stopped him in Ballasalla.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood also ordered the 23-year-old to take an extended driving test at the end of the disqualification, and to pay prosecution costs of £125.

Prosecuting advocate Annie Bannister told the court that police saw Humphries driving a Volkswagen Polo on Douglas Road in Ballasalla on May 31, at around 3am.

He initially came to their attention due to excessive speed and was pulled over near the airport garage.

Humphries, of Shore Road, Castletown, was described as having glazed eyes and smelling of alcohol.

He was asked if he'd been drinking and said he'd consumed alcohol earlier in the evening.

After failing a roadside breathalyser test, he was arrested and taken to police headquarters, where a further test produced the reading of 42, above the legal limit of 35.

Defence advocate Helen Lobb said her client had a clean driving licence and had no previous convictions.

She said that Humphries accepted it had been poor judgement on the night in question, and that he had thought he had left it long enough after drinking to be able to drive.

Ms Lobb asked for credit to be given for the guilty plea and the defendant’s admissions to police at the scene.

Deputy High Bailiff Ms Braidwood told Humphries that she had taken into account that the reading was towards the lower end of the scale, and that he appeared to have been drinking earlier.

But she added: ‘This demonstrates it’s not something that can be judged accurately, and if you’re intending to be driving later on, you shouldn’t be drinking at all.’