Driving ban reduced

Christopher Brown, of Springfield Road, Bexhill, was banned from driving for five years in September 2003 after police found he was more than four times over the legal limit.

Brown also served four months in prison for the offence but magistrates agreed to end his ban so he could start building a new life in Derby.

Appearing at court in Hastings, Brown explained his life at the time of the offence "had been hell."

He said: "I had been married for 12 years but for the last four or five the marriage was on the rocks.

"We had financial worries and things were so bad I would rather go down the pub than go home.

"I realise now I was very wrong and how serious the offence was.

"My time in prison was like being in a different world and if I had actually hit someone when I was drink driving I would never have been able to forgive myself."

Magistrates were then told Brown had since re-married and been trying to turn his life around after moving in with his new wife and her two teenage children.

Brown managed to get a job at a refuse centre - meaning he had to spend nearly three hours a day walking to and from work - but the employment ended because a replacement who could drive was given the job.

Subsequent job applications, which numbered in their hundreds, proved unsuccessful because of his driving ban and the family decided they would move to the Midlands for a fresh start.

Brown said the lifting of the ban was vital because the village they were moving to is 15 miles from the nearest town.

He told magistrates he wanted to be able to support his new family and he would need to drive to secure work.

Hastings Police objected to the lifting, saying the amount of alcohol in Brown's breath would have been "enough to fell a normal man" and that he could have caused someone a serious injury.

Nevertheless the ban was lifted.