The president of the Bermuda Taxi Owners Association was banned from the roads yesterday for drink-driving.

David Frost, 69, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to a charge of driving while more than 2½ times the legal limit.

Frost admitted that he had made a mistake, but hoped it would not put the rest of the trade in a bad light.

He said: “My bad choices shouldn’t reflect poorly on the rest of the taxi drivers. This was a one-time mistake.”

Frost said the executive at the Bermuda Taxi Operators Association had voted that he should stay on as president, despite the driving ban.

He added: “I have been dealing with the day-to-day governing for all this time. It takes up a lot of time and I had been doing it as well as working, but now I will be doing it full time.”

The court heard that police responded to a report that a taxi had crashed into a wall on Middle Road in Southampton on February 21 at about 11.30pm.

Officers spoke to Frost, who admitted that he was driving the vehicle, and noticed his breath smelt of alcohol.

Frost, from Sandys, later took a breath test which showed he had 212 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80mg/100ml.

Richard Horseman, Frost’s defence lawyer, said the defendant was extremely sorry for his actions.

Mr Horseman said: “He drives for a living. Unfortunately, on this evening, there had been a death in the family and he had a few drinks.”

Magistrate Maxanne Anderson banned Frost from driving all vehicles for 18 months and fined him $1,500.

Frost told The Royal Gazette that he was not working, had no passengers when the crash happened and that he had paid for the damage to the wall.

Mr Frost admitted he could have called a taxi to avoid driving.

He said: “Everybody talks about it, but it doesn’t always happen like that.”

Frost added that bars and other businesses that sold alcohol had to do their part and monitor the alcohol intake of their customers.

He urged other road users not to make the same mistake he did. He said: “Think before you get behind the wheel. It doesn’t have to end the same way.”

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