A MAN who said that he was making room on his driveway for a van full of furniture appeared before Bury magistrates accused of drink-driving.

Gary Bleakley (41), of Radcliffe Moor Road, Radcliffe, admitted driving with excess alcohol and without insurance. He was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £290 with £34 court costs.

Mrs Jacqueline Stott, prosecuting, said an officer driving along Turks Road was near Sunningdale Avenue when he saw a vehicle stop and a man walk to its rear.

The officer went to speak to the man, Bleakley, and smelled intoxicants. He requested a breath test but initially Bleakley said "no" and tried to make off, but was taken by the arm.

At the police station, he gave a sample which showed him to have 42 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, compared with the legal limit of 35mg in 100ml.

A man with no previous record, Bleakley explained to the magistrates that he had come home from the pub and found the works' van with furniture in it, in front of the house.

Bleakley, a furniture maker, said the van had been used previously and had been left in a place which caused him some anxiety so he decided he would move it onto his drive, moving his own car out of the way.

"I had not been out driving and I was not intending to go out. I simply moved a vehicle a short distance," he said.

Bleakley added that as a self-employed man he needed to drive long distances in the course of his work, and loss of his licence would have a detrimental effect on his work.