Two men were banned from the roads yesterday after they admitted drink-driving offences.

Vincent Edness, 38, from Hamilton Parish, pleaded guilty to charges of driving while impaired and driving while disqualified by the court in an incident on May 19.

The court heard that shortly after 10.30pm that day, officers received information that Edness, who had received a driving ban for causing injury by dangerous driving, was driving a car in Warwick.

Officers in the area saw Edness operating a white van on Fairway Road in Warwick and had him stop his vehicle.

Edness told the officers that he was allowed to drive the van because it is a commercial vehicle. As the officers spoke with him, they noticed that he was unsteady on his feet and his eyes were red.

The defendant told officers that paperwork to prove his claim that he was allowed to drive was in the van, but when the officers went to look, they saw an empty six-pack of beer.

Edness was subsequently arrested for driving while impaired as well as driving while disqualified.

Senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson told Edness that while his road ban did include an exemption for public service vehicles, the van did not fall into that category.

She disqualified Edness from driving all vehicles, including public service vehicles, for two years for the offences and fined him a total of $2,500, ordering him to pay the fines immediately.

Arrington Smith, 30, from Warwick, admitted to driving while impaired in an incident on May 12.

The court heard that shortly after 10pm that day, officers received reports of a single-vehicle collision on South Road, near the junction with Frith’s Estate Road.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found the vehicle overturned and a nearby tree partially uprooted.

The officers spoke with Smith, who smelt of intoxicants and was unsteady on his feet.

The court ordered an alcohol assessment on Smith and banned him from the road until a further court order, releasing him on $1,500 bail so that he can attend the DUI Court programme.

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