A MAN who vowed never to drive again after being sent to prison for drink-driving got behind the wheel again nine years later in what he thought was a family emergency.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Vernon Paul Barton made a mercy dash to hospital, despite the fact that he had been drinking.

And he was breathalysed as he drove back from the hospital after an officer saw him driving at just 10mph.

Barton, 45, of Church Lane, Clayton-le-Moors, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

He was ordered to do 200 hours community service and disqualified from driving for five years.

Passing sentence the chairman told Barton he had come perilously close to going to prison again.

"You would be foolish in the extreme if you were to drive again in similar circumstances," she added.

The court heard that Barton was stopped in Burnley Road, Blackburn.

A breathalyser later gave a reading of 86 against the legal limit of 35.

Michael Singleton, defending, said the offence had been committed in unusual circumstances.