A SUPPORT worker has been banned from the roads after he was caught out on his way to buy milk for the morning.

James McQuarrie admitted one count of drink-driving when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford in February.

Police had become suspicious after following McQuarrie, who was travelling "very slowly" along Leominster's South Street in his grey Vauxhall Zafira at 10.45pm on February 7, prosecutor Eleanor Peart said.

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McQuarrie was pulled over and taken to the police station, where an evidential breath test revealed he had 50 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Emma Thorne, for McQuarrie, said that the 64-year-old had fallen asleep after drinking a couple of glasses of white wine earlier that day.

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But when he later woke up, he realised he did not have any milk for the morning and decided to go to the shop, Mrs Thorne said.

"He says he always drives slowly, and he was shocked when the reading came back," she said.

"He said he had not even considered that he could be over the limit as it had been two small glasses of wine some hours earlier."

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The court heard a mandatory roads ban will make life "very difficult" for support worker McQuarrie, who works with disabled adults.

McQuarrie, of Printers Mews, Leominster, was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £250.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135 and a £138 victim surcharge.