driving charges.

On Thursday, first time offender Everest John Mello was fined $750 and banned from driving for one year yesterday after he pleaded guilty to impaired driving.

Mello, 60, of Granaway Heights, Southampton, admitted before Magistrate Edward King to driving with nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system on November 16.

Crown counsel Wayne Caines told the court that Mello was followed by a Police mobile patrol as he drove a private car at 1 a.m. on Sun Valley Road.

Mello was driving slowly and erratically and was seen to turn into a private driveway.

There Police found him reclined in the driver's seat with the engine off but the key still in the ignition.

Mello's speech was slurred and he smelled strongly of alcohol, and he told Police: "I had a few beers.'' He was found to have 257 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal limit is 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

On Friday, Rambahadur Dewan, a deckhand on millionaire John Deuss' yacht Fleurtje was fined $1,000 and also banned from driving by Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner after he admitted driving while impaired and causing an accident on November 25.

Dewan, 39, was questioned by Police at 8.25 p.m. after an accident with a taxi.

He told Police: "Yes, I had a few drinks. I know it was wrong, so I'll take the test.'' Despite volunteering to go to Hamilton Police Station to provide a breath sample, Dewan did not blow properly in to the machine. The charge of "failing or refusing to comply'' with the demand of the sample was dropped.

Robert Shuzanzia Rosario, 33, of Paget was followed on Pitt's Bay Road, Pembroke on November 24 and later found to be impaired.

Police saw Rosario's cycle weaving about the road and was repeatedly applying his brakes before he was stopped.

Rosario, a chef, was fined $1,000 and also banned from driving for one year.

Daniel Smith admitted to driving while impaired on November 25 and was similarly fined by Mr. Warner.

A 59-year-old without any previous convictions, Smith was stopped by a mobile patrol on Serpentine Road at 1.30 a.m.

Smith, of Pitts Bay Road, was also fined $1,000 and banned and he earned other $250 and $100 fines for riding an unlicensed cycle and not having third party insurance.

Two other men will be tried in the future for impaired driving and riding.

Micah Hollis and Mark Terell Drew pleaded not guilty to driving while impaired and "without reasonable and probable excuse'' failed or refused to provide a breath sample.

Drew, of Brimstone Hill, Devonshire, will be tried on February 6 while Hollis, whose address is not known, will be tried on February 22. they were released on minimal bail.