A DRIVER has narrowly avoided jail after police caught him at the wheel when he was four-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit.

Dennis Charles Croft, 55, weaved his car back and forth across the central line in Mill Lane, Wigginton, as a police officer watched, York Magistrates Court heard.

The policeman stopped him and gave him a breath test, which he failed, said Martin Butterworth, prosecuting.

A further test at Fulford Road police station gave a reading of 157 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Croft, of Ponderosa Park, Sutton-on-the-Forest, pleaded guilty to drink-driving.

Mr Butterworth said it was the second time in seven years Croft had been caught drink-driving. In September 1998, he was banned for 18 months.

Deputy district judge Martin Sheen said: "You don't understand the enormity of what you are doing.

"The danger someone presents when they are four-and-a-half times the limit, don't care or are too drunk to understand what they are doing, is just horrific to comprehend.

"The number of times you see the carnage, and innocent people are killed while drunken people survive."

But although Croft merited a jail sentence, the deputy district judge decided not to lock him up because he supported his 75-year-old mother and had "all sorts of other problems".

Instead, he ordered Croft to carry out 18 months' community rehabilitation, including a course designed to prevent drink-drivers reoffending.

Croft also admitted failure to attend court on January 28 and was fined £200 with £50 costs.

His solicitor, Victoria Latham, said he had skipped court because he had known he was likely to be locked up, and had "buried his head in the sand".

Ms Latham said he did not appreciate the danger and the position he had put other road users in, but locking him up would not solve the problem he presented to other people.

He lived on Jobseekers' Allowance and was waiting for council staff to find him stable accommodation.

He had not been driven since his arrest.

Mr Butterworth said Croft was arrested on January 22 at 11.30pm. The deputy district judge read a pre-sentence report before sentencing him.

Updated: 10:25 Thursday, March 03, 2005