A SECURITY and first aid officer who was caught over twice the drink drive limit may end up losing his job, Burnley magistrates heard.

The court was told how Gary Philip Higson, 37, needed his driving licence to take anybody who was injured at Baxi Heating, Padiham, to Burnley General Hospital. A colleague had told him he would help out with the driving, but that would only be for 10 months.

Higson, of Harriot Street, Burnley, was fined £200 with £54 costs and banned from driving for two years, after admitting driving with excess alcohol on March 31. Bill Maude, prosecuting, said when police stopped the car Higson was driving and spoke to him, they noticed his breath smelled of drink. John Greenwood, defending, said Higson, who was divorced, had taken his daughter to school. He did not have to pick her up later, so spent some time in a pub in the afternoon.

He then had several hours sleep and was awoken by a call asking him to go and pick somebody up. He felt perfectly all right to drive, had a drink when he got to his destination and was in the process of taking his friend home when he was stopped by the police.

Higson was surprised to find he was over the limit but he had not had anything to eat for quite a long time and that would have increased the reading.

Mr Greenwood said the defendant was a security and first aid officer and needed his driving licence to take anyone injured to hospital. A ban would also cause problems in visiting his father in his sheltered accommodation in Whitby.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.