A LAMPETER father who picked up his daughter from school while over the drink-drive limit thought he would be legal to drive after drinking one can, his solicitor has said.

Gareth Lee Priddle, 31, admitted drink-driving when police approached him outside his home on 13 January, with magistrates hearing the offence had led to the break-up of his relationship.

Magistrates heard from prosecutor Dennis Davies that police had been tipped off that Priddle had been drink-driving near the school in Lampeter and when they went to his address, they saw his Vauxhall Astra outside had suffered some minor damage.

Priddle approached officers and told them that he had been in a minor crash, but failed a roadside breath test.

Following his arrest Priddle, who is a builder, but is currently unemployed, gave a breath sample at the police station which showed 42 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, still above the drink drive limit of 35, but a back calculation to show how much alcohol would have been in his system at the time he was driving to the school and back showed he would have had 50mg of alcohol in his system.

Priddle told police he had drunk a can of Strongbow before driving to pick up his daughter.

Defence solicitor Iestyn Davies said Priddle accepted he was over the limit, but had been surprised when he discovered that he was.

He said Priddle had drunk the can of cider around two hours before driving and thought he would be fine to drive.

Mr Davies said the offence had led to Priddle, of 30 Maes y Deri, splitting up with his partner. He added: “He’s very embarrassed to be here today. He apologises.”

Priddle was banned from driving for a year and will pay a fine of £110 and costs of £105.