A 43-year-old biker has been fined £750 and banned from driving for one year after admitting drink-driving.

Lee Rennie Hetherington said that he took his motorcycle a short distance to get fuel for his commute to work the following morning.

Magistrates also ordered him to take an extended driving test at the end of his ban.

Prosecuting advocate Chrissie Hunt told the court that Hetherington, who lives at Church Street in Peel, went to the Ellan Vannin Fuels filling station in Peveril Road, just around the corner from his home, on August 21 at 8.25pm.

When he paid for fuel for his bike, staff said that he appeared drunk.

Police were called and went to Hetherington’s home.

He was described as slurring his words, smelling of alcohol and having glazed eyes.

After failing a breathalyser test he was arrested and taken to police headquarters, where a further test produced a reading of 91.

The legal limit is 35.

However, Hetherington told police that he had been drinking after he arrived home from the filling station and described what he had drunk.

An expert’s report confirmed that Hetherington’s account of what he had drunk was consistent, and calculated a new reading of not lower than 42, which was accepted by the prosecution.

Defence advocate Paul Glover reiterated Hetherington’s stance that he had ridden only around the corner to the filling station, a matter of metres from his home.

Mr Glover said that his client had wanted to fill up his tank before the shop closed, so he could travel to work in the south of the island the next morning.

The advocate said that it was police policy that they did not tend to charge people who had a reading of under 40.

‘This is perhaps one of the lowest readings to appear before the court,’ said Mr Glover.

Magistrates also ordered Hetherington to pay £125 prosecution costs which he will pay, along with the fine, at a rate of £100 per month.