DRINK-driver Stuart Pearson was found hiding in a ditch by a dog brought in to help search after he fled when stopped by police.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Pearson and his passenger ran off through gardens in the early hours of the morning.

Pearson, 24, of Longsight Road, Clayton-le-Dale, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol and was fined £100 with £55 costs and banned from driving for 12 months. He gave a reading of 49 against the legal limit of 35 nearly an hour after leaving his car.

Leslie Halliwell, defending, said Pearson, who works as a driver for Phillip Dixon Contractors, panicked when he saw the police.

She said Pearson would lose his job as a result of the conviction.

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