Drink-drive actor learns lesson

Coronation Street actor Simon Gregson today said he has learned his lesson about drink-driving after attending a rehabilitation course run by a Shropshire organisation.The 32-year-old actor, who plays Steve McDonald in the soap, has also appealed to people never to drink and drive.

The star was fined £3,000 and banned for 16 months in January after being caught driving home after drinking at a charity event.

Mr Gregson, who has a five month old son called Alfie, attended a three-day educational course for drink-drivers run by Telford's TTC Group. it was held in Altrincham, Cheshire.

He said: "I had so many reservations about attending the course but it was great. The trainers and the other people on the course were brilliant. I was genuinely interested. There is so much information on alcohol that we didn't know and everyone should know about."

The actor, speaking on the set of the soap's fictional pub, the Rover's Return, said he had always believed that the body "got rid" of one pint of beer every hour.

"I was calculating my drinks as losing one pint an hour. I now know that is total rubbish. It is one unit of alcohol on average that the body gets rid of every hour."

He has called for young drivers to take the course as part of their test.