A DRIVER was banned yesterday after admitting being more than two-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit.

David Dodd, 28, of High Grange, Crook, had been out drinking with his brother before being stopped by police in Darlington, the town's magistrates heard.

James Thomas, prosecuting, said Dodd was found to have 90 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Graham Hunsley, in mitigation, said Dodd had misjudged the situation and agreed to drive his brother without considering the amount of alcohol he had drunk.

Magistrates disqualified him from driving for two years, fined him £180 and ordered him to pay £50 costs.