A MAN caught drink-driving after returning from a supermarket where he had bought more alcohol has been banned from the road.

John Hoare, of Alderlee off Stoke Park Drive, was arrested after a member of the public contacted police concerned that he had been drinking.

Hoare was banned from driving for 20 months after a hearing at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court.

The 66-year-old’s Vauxhall Corsa was seen mounting the kerb and when the defendant abandoned his car and went into his flat, the passer-by contacted police.

When officers arrived, Hoare told them he had “three or four John Smith bitters” before going to the shop to get more.

He said he had consumed three more cans and half a bottle of gin in the ten minutes between returning home and the police arriving. He was found to have 78 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

Hoare was told that if he completed a drink-driving awareness course, his ban would be reduced by three months.

The defendant, who pleaded guilty, was also ordered to pay �110 fine, a �20 victim surcharge and �85 towards court costs.