A 34-year-old man has been banned from the roads for 18 months for drinking and driving after a traffic stop in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Daniel Joell, of Smith’s, was stopped by police on Angle Street, Hamilton, after disobeying a traffic sign at about 2.20am on January 1.

Police reported that Joell’s eyes were glazed when he was stopped.

Asked if he had been drinking, he responded: “I had three Amstels in the can.”

The lower of two breath samples collected showed he had 194 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood — the legal limit is 80mg.

Joell told court: “I apologise for my actions. It won’t happen again.”

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo fined him $1,200 for providing a breath sample above the legal limit and disqualified him from operating all vehicles for 18 months.

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