A LANDSCAPE gardener will lose his job after being convicted of drink driving, a court heard.

John Alan Langan was stopped by police on Borough Road, Middlesbrough, in the early hours of Christmas Eve last year after CCTV operators in the town centre alerted police.

The 26-year-old, of Sowerby Crescent, Stokesley, pleaded guilty to driving whilst more than twice the legal limit when he appeared before Teesside Magistrates Court today (Monday, January 7).

The self-employed landscape gardening sub-contractor told the court that both he and his brother would lose their work as the result of a ban.

When he was breathalysed he gave a reading of 73mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

He told the court he had gone into Middlesbrough to pick up his friends but ended up drinking eight bottles of beer before attempting to drive home.

District Judge Andrew Meachin said: “You have paid the price for a very foolish action.”

The judge banned Langan for 17 months and fined him £110. He was also ordered to pay costs of £80 and a victim surcharge of £20.