A man who was caught driving while impaired and speeding at 102 kph was fined $1,500 yesterday and banned from the roads for two years - and advised to get a pilot's licence instead.

Thomas Eugene Smith, 30, of Riviera Crescent Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and for speeding on February 20 this year. Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves told Smith he had no choice but to ban him from all vehicles for a year, and advised him to get a pilot's licence instead.

He said: "You are going to have to get a pilot's licence - for an aeroplane or an airbus - 102 kph disqualifies you from all vehicles. Vehicles are missiles in your hands. You were flying."

Crown counsel Cindy Clarke told Magistrates' Court that Police were carrying out speed checks on Palmetto Road in Devonshire when they clocked Smith travelling at 102 kph.

She said when the officers pulled him over they could smell alcohol on his breath. He was arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station where a breath test revealed that he had 111 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milligrams of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood.

When Mr. Greaves asked Smith if he had anything to say, he replied: "I apologise to the court. It is my first charge of driving under the influence. I had one strong beer; I didn't think I was drunk.

"You see, I had been having some problems with my car and I figured that I would blow it out - I didn't realise that I was going that fast."

Mr. Greaves said: "You were speeding in excess. I like the words you were using - 'strong beer and problems with my car'."

But Smith asked that the court be more lenient on him than usual.

He asked: "Your worship, can I ask that you leave me with a licence, as I run my own juicing business - even if it is an auxiliary cycle licence?"

But Smith was given short shrift by the magistrate, and was told to apply for a pilot's licence, instead, as he was "flying" at the time.

Smith was fined $500 or 50 days in prison for speeding, and $1,000 or 90 days in prison for driving while impaired. Mr. Greaves also disqualified him from driving all vehicles for 12 months on each count, to run consecutively.