The chairman of an anti-drunkenness campaign has been banned from the roads for two years after admitting driving while nearly three times over the legal limit. John Garton told the court he had been working in a pub during a festival and had been tasting the barrels before recklessly getting behind the wheel. Garton, chairman of Stopping Trouble and Nighttime Disorder (Stand), pleaded guilty at Skipton Magistrates' Court to driving while over the legal limit.
The campaigner remains chairman of Stand until it is discussed at a committee meeting next week. Stand bans people from pubs for unruly and drunken behaviour. He was stopped by police on May 2 this year and told the court he had been tasting barrels at the Skipton Waterway Festival after changing them and claimed he had only drunk one pint of "strong ale" in addition.
Following the hearing the campaigner said: "I have been punished by the court and have beaten myself up about what I did. The chairman of Stand is not a position of power, that is down to the licensees, the chairman just has the casting vote." Garton, 42, who was not represented in court, said he wanted to apologise for wasting court and police time.
Magistrates banned Garton, of Skipton, for two years and fined him £230. The campaigner was also ordered to pay £80 costs and a £15 victims' surcharge. If he completes a drink-driver's rehabilitation course, costing £250, by August 2012 his ban will be reduced to 18 months.
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