A YOUNG Colchester United player is seeking “a fresh start” with a new club after appearing in court twice in the same day.

Elliot Furniss

A YOUNG Colchester United player is seeking “a fresh start” with a new club after appearing in court twice in the same day.

Yesterday, 20-year-old U's striker Jamie Guy was fined a total of £750 for drink-driving and public order offences and banned from the road for 12 months.

U's manager Geraint Williams said the player, who was fined £550 last year after he admitted assaulting a youth during a night out, needed to “take stock” of where his life was heading.

Guy was also ordered to pay a further £150 in costs and charges and after the hearing at Colchester Magistrates' Court he said he was “upset” by the ordeal.

Speaking on the court steps, he said: “I'm upset by it - it won't be happening again.

“The club haven't really spoken about it. I don't really see myself at the club after all this. I'm looking to get away and get a fresh start.”

Dressed in a smart pinstripe suit and an open-necked striped shirt, Guy appeared first with pal Jan-Isaac Hibbs to jointly answer a charge of threatening behaviour.

They both admitted fighting in the Britannica Car Park in St Botolph's Street in the early hours of May 9 after a night out.

The court heard that the pair had been “play-fighting” but had ended up scuffling on the ground. The fight was caught on CCTV and police were alerted.

Representing Guy, Mark Haslam said it would be hard to find somebody who was genuinely scared by the incident, but accepted that there had been a breach of the peace.

He said: “It's clearly unacceptable behaviour. He (Guy) has to learn that this is unacceptable and must not be repeated.”

Hibbs, of Bernard Brett House, Colchester, was handed a £100 fine for the offence while Guy was fined £350. They were both ordered to pay costs.

The fight took place just days after Guy, who has a three-month-old son with his partner, was stopped by police in the town and found to be over the legal drink-drive limit.

He was pulled over as he drove along St John's Road on May 3 and was found to be over the drink drive limit.

At a hearing last month, Guy admitted drinking four bottles of beer at a neighbour's barbecue earlier in the day and said he was “stupid” to have got behind the wheel.

He was not insured to drive the black Renault Clio at the time, held only a provisional driving license and was not displaying learner plates on the vehicle.

Guy was fined £400 and banned from driving for 12 months.

Nicholas Chilvers, Chair of the Magistrates, told him the ban could be reduced by three months if he successfully undertook a drink-drive rehabilitation course.

Guy has made more than 40 first team appearances for the U's after breaking through the club's youth set-up but only a handful have been starts.

He has also played on loan at Cambridge and Gravesend.

Speaking after the club's first pre-season training session yesterday, Williams said his young forward had expressed “a great deal of remorse” for his actions of late and realised that he needed to “take stock” of where his life was heading.

He said: “The club has not condoned Jamie's behaviour but is sympathetic to his position and we will speak to him with a view to the best outcome for both Jamie and the club.”