THE managing director of a spirits company was nearly four times the drink-drive limit because he had drunk too many cocktails, York magistrates heard.

Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, said a roadside rescue company alerted police to Nicholas Dymoke-Marr’s condition when they answered his call for help at the junction of Tadcaster Road and the A64 York Outer Ring Road.

His Audi had scratches on its side indicating it had hit the side barrier and he was “barely able to stand up”. Dymoke-Marr told police he knew he shouldn’t have been driving because he had had too much to drink, but he had wanted to get home. He had heard two of his tyres deflate and had pulled into the side of the road. Defence solicitor Rob Rode said Dymoke-Marr had spent the previous evening making cocktails in a staff training demonstration and had also had alcohol with his dinner. He was also suffering from stress from working very hard getting his new business running. He was now getting medical helpand counselling.

Dymoke-Marr, who is the managing director of a company that promotes and sells gin, and who has been in the drinks industry for all his working life, was banned from driving for three years and ordered to do 200 hours’ unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £60 statutory charge.

The 50-year-old, from Bramhope, near Leeds, pleaded guilty to drink-driving, his first conviction. Mr Butterworth said a breath test detected 139 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 35 micrograms