A YOUNG Colchester United footballer has been handed a 12-month driving ban and fined £400 after he was caught drink-driving.

Elliot Furniss

A YOUNG Colchester United footballer has been handed a 12-month driving ban and fined £400 after he was caught drink-driving.

Jamie Guy, 20, was stopped by police as he drove along St John's Road, Colchester, on May 3 and was found to be over the drink drive limit.

He admitted drinking four bottles of beer at a neighbours' barbecue earlier in the day.

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

At Colchester Magistrates' Court yesterday Guy, a striker with the League One club, also pleaded guilty to a charge of using threatening behaviour, relating to a separate incident just days after the drink driving offence.

The court heard that Guy and a friend, Jan-Isaac Hibbs, who admitted the same charge, had been “play-fighting” in a Colchester car park after a night out on May 9 only for the fight to escalate, ending up with them scuffling on the floor and the police being called.

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.

Speaking after the hearing, Guy said he was “upset” about the ordeal and that it would not be happening again.