A MAN who drove at high speed around town centre roundabouts after having a argument with his girlfriend has been locked up for 11 months and banned from the roads for more than five years.

Police spotted Ernestas Kojelis driving his Saab in Northallerton on July 31, and when they pulled over the car on High Street, officers smelled alcohol and gave the 28-year-old a roadside breath-test, which he failed.

Teesside Crown Court heard it was the fourth time he had been caught drink-driving in four years and officers found he was also not insured to drive the vehicle. 

He gave a breathalyser reading of 60 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents states drivers with a blood alcohol level of between 50mg and 80mg are more than two times more likely to be involved in an accident than drivers with no alcohol, and up to six times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, while those hit by uninsured drivers often have difficulties making claims.

He was also the subject of two suspended prison sentences - for his previous last drink-driving case, and a conviction for affray.

Tom Mitchell, mitigating, said Kojelis had not planned to drive, but had an row with his girlfriend and took a friend’s car.

“He knows full well he should not have done it, and it’s not the first time he has done it,” Mr Mitchell told Judge Tony Briggs.

“It was not something he planned to do. He had not spent all day in the pub having taken the car there and decided to drive.

“He had just a few drinks as the reading at the police station tends to suggest. He is genuinely sorry for what he has done.

“He has a good job and a nice flat. He has family and he doesn’t want to lose it all. A longer custodial sentence makes that more likely. I appreciate he only has himself to blame if that’s what he gets.”

Kojelis, a labourer, of Friarage Street, Northallerton, admitted charges of driving with excess alcohol and without insurance.

Judge Briggs told him: “Custody is inevitable. It is a major danger to road-users that you just seem to continue to drive while you are over the limit.”