drunk driving.

David L. White, 63, of Wellington Street, St. George's, also lost his driver's licence for all vehicles for the next 12 months.

He had pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to driving on Christmas Eve with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.

The court heard that Police officers on patrol at Kindley Field Road saw a white Toyota hatchback, with a long queue of vehicles behind it, heading east at a very slow speed.

The officers watched the car turn left and pass over the Swing Bridge onto Mullet Bay Road, said Police prosecutor Sgt. Phil Taylor.

It continued to travel very slowly and occasionally drifted over the centre line. The officers stopped the car and recognised the driver as White.

When they spoke to him they noticed his speech was slurred and they could smell liquor on his breath. They asked him to get out of his car and saw that he was unsteady on his feet.

The officers asked White if he had been drinking and he told them that he had "a couple of sherries'' over the course of the afternoon, the court heard.

He was cautioned at which point he said "I'm nearly home'', said Sgt. Taylor.

White agreed to give a sample of breath for analysis and was taken to Hamilton Police Station where the lowest reading was 181 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal limit is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

When asked if he had anything to say by Magistrate Cheryl-Ann Mapp, White replied that it was "an extraordinary circumstance'' because he had not been drinking for six years.

And he asked Mrs. Mapp to take into consideration the fact that he lived in St. George's before she sentenced him.

He told her that he believed Christmas had caused him to drink.

Mrs. Mapp told him his actions could have given his family "a different type of Christmas'' if he had killed himself or another person.

White replied: "Christmas was not too good as it was.''