Man who got behind wheel weeks after drink drive conviction told 'stay off the booze for 70 days'

Lee McLaughlin of Summerhill, Sutton Hill was given the order at Telford Magistrates Court after admitting driving while disqualified and driving with no insurance.

The 46-year-old was found behind the wheel of his Mercedes on January 23 in Watling Street, Wellington.

The court was told that he has just been banned from driving following a conviction for drink driving just 20 days earlier.

Ms Sara Beddow, prosecuting, said the defendant had been banned from the road until September 2025.

"But within 20 days he was driving a Mercedes on a public road," she said. "When he was interviewed by police he said he was using the vehicle to go to job interviews to get his life back on track after losing his job when he lost his licence. Clearly he wasn't insured."

Judge Grego told McLaughlin that it was the tenth time he had been before the courts, adding: "It is an aggravating feature when somebody disqualified in a very short time decides to drive again.

"I've considered if I should say enough is enough and you should go to prison today."

But he said that a pre-sentence report compiled by the probation service had "enough in it not to take that course".

He placed McLaughlin on an 18-month community order, which includes 70 days of alcohol abstinence monitoring.

"So you have to stay off booze for 70 days," said Judge Grego.

He also ordered McLaughlin to pay £399 in fines, costs and surcharges and extended his disqualification for 20 months "from today".