A drink-driver has been sent to prison for speeding along an Ipswich road while more than three times the limit and missing a tyre.

Tony Alcock-Jaggers was spotted driving on three wheels at 40mph along a 30mph stretch of the A137 near Ipswich on October 13.

Another motorist reported seeing sparks fly from the rear offside wheel of the 48-year-old’s black BMW, which was witnessed swerving between lanes before coming to a stop at the side of the road.

Police arrived to find Alcock-Jaggers behind the wheel – smelling of alcohol and slurring his speech, before making an unsteady exit and failing a roadside breath test.

The lower reading of two subsequent evidential tests showed Alcock-Jaggers had 125 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit being 35mcg.

After admitting the offence at Suffolk Magistrates’ Court on Monday, the self-employed road worker was revealed by prosecutor Tess Mann to have been previously convicted of driving while over the limit in 2012.

Peter Young, mitigating, said Alcock-Jaggers had suffered anxiety and depression since 1999, but had failed to seek professional advice until recently consulting a GP.

“Instead, he tried coping with it by working and drinking,” added Mr Young, who described Alcock-Jaggers as living alone in a Witham bedsit with nothing but Sky TV for company.

According to Mr Young, Alcock-Jaggers had asked a colleague to help sell his car by taking photos of the vehicle and posting an advertisement online.

Despite encountering a puncture while travelling to the colleague’s home, Alcock-Jaggers continued driving until the tyre disintegrated.

Described as a binge drinker, Alcock-Jaggers had consumed several cans of cider the previous night, and woke to drink a couple more before driving.

“He felt alright, but it very quickly increased the level of alcohol in his system,” said Mr Young.

Alcock-Jaggers was handed a three-month suspended prison sentence in 2012 after being caught drink-driving in Tiptree.

This time, magistrates chose to send him straight to jail for the same period and ban him from driving for a further five years.