A FATHER of two who took a taxi to a pub but then drove home has paid the price with a three-year ban.

Burnley Magistrates heard how Rolls Royce worker David Middleton, 41, already had a previous conviction for drink driving.

Middleton, of Birtwistle Avenue, Colne, admitted driving with excess alcohol and was also fined £100, with £55 costs.

Andy Robinson, prosecuting, said at about 9.30pm, police were told the defendant had a left a town centre pub and had been drinking.

An officer did not see Middleton driving but spotted him very soon after he got out of the car.

Middleton was asked if he had been driving and said he had just moved his car.

The lower of two police station breath tests showed 53 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 mililitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

John McNabb, defending, said Midleton had gone to see his estranged girlfriend to resolve their difficulties and found that she had taken his car to the pub.

There was an altercation between the two of them and he moved the car back to where it normally stood.

The defendant, who had a previous conviction for excess alcohol five years ago, had had no intention of driving and had gone to the pub in a taxi. He had intended to go home the same way.