AN EDEN Valley motorist who was followed by the police because he drove too quickly in Penrith has been given a ban for drink driving.

Self-employed farmer Michael Hastwell, 20, came to the attention of the police at 2.55am on December 27 last year because he was driving “at speed” past people who were leaving a nightclub in Burrowgate, Penrith.

As a consequence of this, police followed his Ford Fiesta as it drove south along the A6, Carlisle’s Rickergate court heard.

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“The vehicle consistently travelled faster than the 30mph speed limit,” prosecutor Pam Ward told the court. It was after the car did a swerving manoeuvre near Penrith Hospital that the police officers illuminated their blue lights.

The defendant, from Kirkby Stephen, provided a positive reading for alcohol during a breath test. The test showed that he had 46mcg of alcohol in 100mls of breath. The legal limit for driving is 35mcg.

Hastwell admitted drink driving.

Representing himself, the defendant said he would have to “lose” one or two of the farming jobs he did and concentrate on working on the family farm with his father. He was fined £250, with a £100 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

He was banned for 14 months and offered a rehabilitation course, which if completed by a deadline will reduce the length of a ban.