A DROITWICH man who drove to a friend's house because he had been locked out of his own home, was found to be over the limit when he was stopped by police.

Officers stopped Neil Randle as he drove along the A38 at Martin Hussingtree just before 2am on Friday, August 24, as his Ford Escort van had only its sidelights on.

"The defendant was found to be positive during a road-side breath test and officers took him to Worcester police station where he was then found to have 65mcg of alcohol in 100mcg of breath," Kerry Moreton, prosecuting, told Droitwich magistrates.

The legal limit is 35mcg.

Randle, of Nunnery Avenue, admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared in court yesterday.

Barry Newton, defending, said his client had not intended to drive but was forced to after his plans to stay with a friend went wrong.

"My client had gone out socialising and had arranged to stay at a friend's house so that he wouldn't have to drive," he said.

"But when he got to the house there wasn't enough room for him to stay. As my client had stopped drinking at 10pm and had three or four bottles of lager before then, he believed it was safe to drive home."

But he said when Randle got home he discovered he had been locked out by his parents and decided to drive back to his friend's house so as not to wake anyone.

"He got all the way home to find it had been bolted from the inside. So he decided to return to the friend's and it was during that journey he was stopped,'' said Mr Newton.

Randle was fined £150, banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £69 costs.

Magistrates also offered him the opportunity to take a driving course, that, if he completes it, will reduce the length of his ban.