AN A-level student from Darwen has appeared before magistrates charged with drink driving.

Paul Selman, 18, of St Albans Road, Darwen, appeared in court wearing his uniform from Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Blackburn, and pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

And Blackburn magistrates were told the inevitable ban might affect his plans to join the Royal Navy to further his career and education.

Selman was banned from driving for 16 months and fined £45 with £55 costs. Selman, who gave a breath reading of 56 against the legal limit of 35, agreed to be referred to the drink driver's rehabilitation programme which, if completed successfully, would reduce his ban by up to a quarter.

The court heard that Selman was stopped in the early hours of Sunday morning after police saw him driving along Duckworth Street, Blackburn, at excessive speed.

The police officer who stopped him claimed that Selman stumbled as he got out of his car, found it difficult to focus, was slurring his words and smelled strongly of alcohol.

But Stephen Parker, defending, asked the magistrates to judge his level of sobriety on the scientific evidence produced by the breathalyser.

"It seems that everybody arrested for excess alcohol is struggling to stand up or hold a conversation and I have even seen similar comments in a police statement about someone who eventually passed the breathalyser," said Mr Parker. "I would ask you to deal with my client on the basis of his reading and not on the officer's observations."

He said the previous evening Selman had been to a friend's 18th birthday party but had not taken the car with him. He had not taken alcohol since about 11pm and went home with a number of friends, he said. In the early hours the boyfriend of one of the group rang to say he was ill and would not be able to collect his girlfriend, he said.