A BLOCK paver has escaped jail for his third drink driving offence but banned for five years.

Burnley magistrates heard how Andrew Wells, 21, had already served a four-month term of detention for excess alcohol and just finished a three-year ban.

He was seen swerving and driving erratically all over the road and found to be more than twice the limit.

Wells, of Wellington Street, Barnoldswick, admitted driving with excess alcohol and no insurance. He was given 12 months probation and 40 hours community punishment, must pay £55 costs and attend the drink impaired drivers' programme.

Elizabeth Reed, prosecuting, said a witness driving to Burnley from Cliviger on October 12 was overtaken by the defendant on a bend and approaching double white lines.

Another vehicle was coming the other way and Wells cut in front of the witness, causing him to brake. When police arrived, the lower of two breath tests showed 96 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 mililitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

The prosecutor added Wells was sent to a Young Offenders' Institution in September 1999 when his reading was 83 microgrammes of alcohol. He had been given a three-year ban.

David Lawson, defending, said Wells appreciated he was in a serious position. The three-year ban had just finished when he committed the offences and the prospect of jail had been weighing very heavily on him