AFTER partying hard over two alcohol-fuelled days an Ipswich driver thought he had left it long enough before getting behind the wheel.

However, today Mareks Nikolajevs, of Bramford Road, is banned from the road for two years after mistakenly believing he was fit to drive while three times the drink-drive limit.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol when he appeared before South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court.

Nikolajevs was driving a K-registration Mitsibushi Shogun with passengers in it when he was seen by police at around 7.40pm on August 4.

The court was told the vehicle was stopped as it was parking in Brooks Hall Road.

When Nikolajevs was approached an officer smelled alcohol on his breath.

A roadside breath test proved positive and Nikolajevs was arrested.

A subsequent breath test showed he had 106 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcgs.

Nikolajevs's sentence was deferred for a probation report to be compiled.

The probation officer told the court Nikolajevs informed her that he had been at a party for two days.

He had not realised the extent of how long the alcohol he had consumed would stay in his system. The next evening the packing company worker was arrested and was surprised he was over the legal alcohol limit at the time.

In addition to giving Nikolajevs a 24-month disqualification from driving, district judge Celia Dawson ordered him to carrying out 100 hours' unpaid work as part of a community order.

He was also told he must pay �85 prosecution costs.