A MAN who drove while more than three times over the legal drink-drive limit has been banned from the roads.

Gareth Terrance Edwards admitted the offence when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford on July 29.

Prosecutor Jo Tait said the 39-year-old patents attorney had been reported to police after he was seen getting into his car at an M5 service station at around 5.30pm on July 12.

Police followed Edwards, of Ogwen Drive, Cardiff, as he drove on the M5 and M50, stopping him on the A40 near Wilton in Herefordshire.

A breath test revealed he had 107 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Emma Thorne, for Edwards, said he had driven to Derbyshire to pick up a guitar he had bought.

But before leaving the Peak District, he felt the urge to drink.

“It’s a relatively high reading, and he feels a real sense of shame in being here today,” she said.

The court heard Edwards had struggled with alcoholism since losing a child in a tragic accident six years previously.

“He turned to alcohol as a crutch and continued to drink,” Mrs Thorne said.

“This has become a real issue for him, and he is taking steps to tackle it. He has been to see his GP and has completed a detox.”

Edwards was disqualified from driving for 23 months and fined £692. He must also pay costs of £135 and a £69 victim surcharge.