Just one drink put Cathal McQuaide over the legal alcohol limit to drive, Fermanagh Court has been told.
The 61-year-old farmer, from Cavanamara Close, Trillick, admitted the offence, was fined £250 and banned from driving for 12 months.
A prosecutor told the court that at approximately 11.15pm on November 2, police saw McQuaide driving very slowly along the Enniskillen Road in Irvinestown. He was travelling at less than 20mph and the nearside tail light on his car was defective. The police followed him to Mill Street where they stopped him and asked him why he was driving so slowly. He told them he was not aware that he was driving slowly. The officers asked him if he had been drinking. He told them he had taken one drink. He failed a preliminary breath test. He was arrested and taken to Enniskillen Police Station where an evidential sample produced an alcohol reading of 63 - 28 in excess of the legal limit.
Defence solicitor Paul McGinn said McQuaide had been driving for 43 years with an unblemished record. It was to his great shame and embarrassment that he found himself before the court and he wished to apologise. The driving disqualification would have an adverse impact on his ability to farm his small holding.
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