POLICE who stopped a car after spotting it being driven without lights in the early hours of the morning discovered the man behind the wheel was over the drink drive limit.

Swindon Magistrates Court heard Nazrawi Yonas’s Jeep Patriot was seen going along Princes Street at 4.55am on December 23. Officers stopped it after it went into Broad Street.

Prosecutor Pauline Lambert told the hearing on Wednesday that Yonas was arrested at the roadside and taken to the police station where the lowest reading from his breath test was 66 micrograms per 100ml of breath. The limit is 35.

Yonas, 24, of Cricklade Road, pleaded guilty to drink driving.

Mark Glendenning, defending, said: “He was with friends, had something to drink and was driving home.”

He said the police had no concern about the defendant’s driving other than the lack of headlights.

Yonas worked as a warehouseman for Aldi and had a full, clean driving licence,” he added.

The magistrates banned him from driving for 18 months and fined him £300 with costs of £85 and ordered him to pay a contribution towards victim services of £30.