FORMER England and Liverpool football captain Emlyn Hughes expressed his shame today as he was banned from driving and fined £400 for drink-driving after a day at York Races.

York magistrates, hearing the case on Hughes' 55th birthday, were told how police stopped the retired international soccer player and TV personality as he left the races, where he had given an after-dinner speech.

Hughes of Whirlow Park Road, Whirlow, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was banned from driving for 12 months.

He said after the hearing: "I am absolutely disgusted with what I did. I abhor drink-drivers."

His solicitor, Stephen Winehouse, told magistrates that Hughes had believed his brother was having a medical emergency when he took the decision to drive ten or 20 yards along Campleshon Road to his hotel.

Chairman of the bench Dr Peter Hogarth, sitting with two other magistrates, fined him £400, plus £55 court costs. He said he had reduced the sentence from £600 because of the circumstances and the very short distance driven.

Hughes agreed to go on a drink-driver rehabilitation course which means that he must attend group sessions to learn about the dangers of mixing alcohol and driving, and, if he completes the course successfully, will get a three-month reduction on his ban.

Hughes agreed to pay the fine within 28 days.

Steven Ovenden, prosecuting, said police stopped Hughes at 7pm last Thursday, the last day of the Ebor meeting, very close to the racecourse.

He co-operated with a breath test and was taken to Fulford Road police station, where a further test gave a reading of 57 mgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Hughes was released from a police cell at 10.30pm that evening.

Mr Winehouse said that Hughes had gone to the races with his brother, David, and a friend, having booked into a hotel next to the course.

He had given a speech and spent the rest of the afternoon in a hospitality suite. He intended to walk back to the hotel or take a taxi.

But his brother, who suffered a stroke in 1997, was suddenly taken ill, and Hughes, believing it was an emergency, took his friend's car and drove his brother towards the hotel.

He believed there was a route over the racecourse to the hotel without going on a public road, but as he went out of the car park, he realised this was not the case.

He had no previous conviction for drink-driving, but did have a speeding conviction.

He drove 75,000 to 100,000 miles a year working as a radio speaker, giving after-dinner speeches and carrying out charity work.

Hughes won fame playing for Liverpool in the 1970s when he led them as captain to numerous league championships, European and UEFA cup triumphs. The team also won the FA Cup and League Cup. He won 62 England caps, 23 of them as captain, and was Footballer of the Year in 1977 and Sportsman of the Year in 1978. He was awarded the OBE in 1980.

After he retired from football, he won new fame as team captain on the BBC programme A Question Of Sport.

Updated: 14:58 Wednesday, August 28, 2002