A DRIVER was three times over the limit when he drove away from home following a row with his wife.

Peter Gray, aged 57, of Shady Lane, Bromley Cross, was breathalysed after his car hit a stone wall.

Magistrates in Blackburn banned him from driving for 28 months and fined him £1,250 after he pleaded guilty to drink-driving.

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, told Blackburn magistrates that Gray, an IT consultant, had been drinking after his return from work and there was a row with his wife.

He decided he needed some space, some time to think and he foolishly got in his car and headed for Belmont," said Mr Church-Taylor.

"He had only travelled about a mile when he crashed into the wall. The decision to drive was made without proper thought for the consequences because all he could see was getting out of the house and working through some of his immediate problems."