A TEACHER who sought solace in drink from the stress of an Ofsted inspection, avoided jail yesterday after admitting a third drink-driving offence.

District Judge Roy Anderson, sitting at Harrogate Magistrates' Court, told David Gilman, 54, that as a highly intelligent man he must have known the risk he posed to other road users before being found slumped over the wheel of his car on the A168 near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire.

"Goodness knows what the real alcohol content of your body was on that day in December," said Judge Anderson after hearing that four hours after his arrest Gilman, of Lilac Cottage, Little Ouseburn, near York, was still nearly twice the legal limit.

Gilman, who is now working as a labourer and had convictions for drink-driving in 1994 and 1998, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a breath specimen.

The judge made a probation order for a year with a condition Gilman takes part in a drink-impaired drivers' programme. He also made him subject to a curfew for 12 weeks between 9pm and 7am, banned him from driving for four years and ordered costs of £55.

In mitigation, Andrew Tinning said Gilman, who suffered from emphysema, had sought help from Alcoholics Anonymous and the Harrogate Alcohol and Drugs Agency, but agreed that he had "fallen off the wagon".

The school where Gilman had worked regarded him highly. But problems had begun as a result of an Ofsted inspection in 1997-98 which he had found extremely stressful. "That led to binge drinking and to a nervous breakdown,'' said Mr Tinning.