A BUSINESSMAN was more than three times the drink drive limit as he drove home through rural roads just before midnight, York magistrates heard.

Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, said police got a tip-off that Hans Peter Michael Schmidt was breaking the law, spotted him on the B1224 York to Wetherby Road and followed him into Bilton-in-Ainsty, where he was arrested.

Schmidt, 50, who lives in Bilton-in-Ainsty, told magistrates he had been to a party in the next village.

"I had had so much alcohol I just got into the car and drove. It was stupid," he said.

They banned him from driving for two years, fined him £272 and ordered him to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £30 statutory surcharge.

Mr Butterworth said Schmidt's breath test after he was stopped just before midnight on August 18 gave a reading of 112 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Schmidt said when he left for the party, he had expected to be given a lift home, but his arrangement fell through.