A MIDDLE-aged man who repeatedly sucked instead of blew into breath testing equipment has been banned from the road for 16 months.

Police officers stopped when they saw David Britton's blue Montego sticking out of a hedge at the side of the Droitwich to Ombersley road on Sunday, September 9.

When PC Eugene Conway approached the jobless 55-year-old and another driver, who was helping to pull the damaged car out, she could smell alcohol on Britton's breath.

"His eyes were glazed and he was unsteady on his feet," said John Barnett, prosecuting at Droitwich Magistrates Court yesterday.

"Because it was an accident, he was required to provide a test, but had to be asked three times. He was sucking in air instead of blowing."

At Worcester police station, Britton, of Sandys Road, Ombersley, provided four inadequate samples and was obstructive by blowing outside testing machine tubes, the court heard.

Richard Wilkes, defending, said his client, who admitted failing to provide a breath specimen, had been drinking because he was depressed and attempted the four-mile journey to Droitwich for food to absorb some of the alcohol.

"He's on medication anyway, but that day his brother had gone back to Australia," he said.

"The visit had cheered him up and when he left, my client became more depressed than usual.

"After drinking for a while he felt that he needed something to eat to absorb the effects."

Mr Wilkes said, however, his client, who held a clean licence for 29 years with no previous convictions, veered into the hedge because he was blinded by the sun, not because of drink.

"He said he could not supply a sufficient sample because he could not get to grips with what he was supposed to do," he said. "But he accepts he should have made more effort."

Magistrates gave him a 16-month disqualification, a £50 fine and ordered him to pay £55 court costs.