A SOLDIER caught changing a car wheel in Cockerton while more than twice the legal alcohol limit has been banned from driving for 20 months.

Hayden McIntee, of Claremont Road, Darlington, was seen at about 2.20am on Boxing Day changing the wheel of a VW Golf which had damage to its front.

The police spoke to him at Cockerton Green and 18-year-old McIntee told them that he had suffered a blow out and that he was trying to repair it.

Sarah Traynor, prosecuting at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court, said that the police thought that McIntee smelt of alcohol.

She said he gave a positive breath test at the roadside as he gave a reading of 73mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, with the limit being 35mg.

McIntee told police that he had drunk four bottles of Budweiser and a Jagerbomb. The court heard that he had only passed his driving test at the start of last December.

He is currently based in Salisbury, in Wiltshire, where he is training with the Army to be a gunner in the Royal Artillery.

Nick Woodhouse, mitigating, said McIntee was inexperienced and that he did not know what effect the alcohol would have on his system.

McIntee pleaded guilty to a charge of drink driving.

He was sentenced to a 20-month driving ban and fined £250 for the offence. He will also pay court costs of £85 and a £25 victim surcharge.