A 26-year-old man who was over twice the legal limit the day after a night of drinking has been disqualified from driving at Fermanagh Magistrates Court.

The court heard that on April 14, 2019 Ciaran Sheridan with an address of Eshnadarragh Road, Rosslea was stopped by police in Mill Street after they had followed him from the car park at McDonald’s on the Dublin Road.

Police had received a report from a member of the public that a person driving a red Ford Transit van had smelt of alcohol. When officers arrived, they observed the Ford Transit leaving the car park and heading towards the town.

It turned right onto Forthill Street before taking a left onto Mill Street where officers stopped the vehicle.

When officers spoke to the driver who was identified as the defendant, they detected a smell of alcohol and Sheridan subsequently failed a preliminary breath test. He was then taken to Omagh and provided a blood sample which came back with a reading of 171mg in 100ml of blood.

Sheridan’s solicitor Barry Lynam told the court that his client was a Maintenance Officer and the loss of his licence will create difficulties for his work and will likely lose his employment as he need to have a clean driving licence to visit sites for work.

He said that the 26 year old had been drinking the night before he was stopped by police and had left his van at the bar and returned to collect it the next day and mistakenly believed he was fit to drive it.

Mr. Lynam accepted it was quite a high reading while he also asked the court to take into account his client’s likely loss of employment when handing down any punishment.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan described it as a “very foolish” incident and the loss of licence was inevitable.

Taking into account the high reading alongside the defendant’s small record and early plea he disqualified Sheridan for 16 months, fined him £200 and certified him for a drink drivers course.