Pool-playing Hereford pubgoer handed three-year ban

Nathan Powell, of Three Crosses Road, Ross-on-Wye, entered a guilty plea to one count of drink-driving when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford in March.

He had been spotted by police in Hereford's Belmont Road at 2.35am on February 1, prosecutor Eleanor Peart said.

Officers pulled Powell's black Nissan Juke over, and he was arrested after failing a roadside breath test.

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An evidential breath test taken in custody revealed Powell, who admitted he had been drinking earlier that night, had 49 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Chris Read, for Powell, said that the 33-year-old, who was previously convicted of a drug-driving offence in 2021, had been just outside his home address at the time when he was stopped.

"He had driven into town earlier that evening, and went to the pub where he played pool and drank two and a half pints," Mr Read said.

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Powell and his friends had then moved on to another pub for a couple of hours, where he was said to have ordered soft drinks.

"He felt he would be under the limit, but evidently he was wrong," Mr Read told the court.

Powell, who is not currently in work, was disqualified from driving for 36 months and fined £120 for the offence.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135 and a £48 victim surcharge.