A drink driving motorcyclist who hit a car and a street light was yesterday banned from the roads for 18 months.

Magistrates’ Court heard that Kyle Arkell, 25, was riding on South Road in Paget when he tried to turn left at its junction with Southcote Road.

But he almost collided with a wall, swerved and hit a car.

Arkell tried to leave the scene, but lost control of the machine, mounted the kerb and crashed into a lamp post.

Police attended the scene and interviewed Arkell, who admitted that he had had “a couple of drinks” in Hamilton.

Arkell was arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station and asked to take a breath test.

The test showed that he had 112 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80mg/100ml.

The incident happened in the early hours of July 10.

Arkell, from Southampton, who admitted the offence, told the court: “I’ve never driven drunk before in my life.

“The only reason I did it was because a girl I was seeing was leaving the next day and I wanted to see her.”

Magistrate Craig Attridge fined Arkell $1,200 in addition to the ban and ordered Arkell to pay by September 30.

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