A 47-year-old Pembroke man was fined $1,000 and banned from driving for a year after pleading guilty to driving with a blood alcohol level at more than twice the legal limit.

Bruce Benevide, an employee at The Beach, on Front Street, was stopped by Police on suspicion of impaired driving on St John's Road, Pembroke, at approximately 7.15 p.m. on Sunday. Magistrates' Court heard that Police observed Benevide driving too close to the middle line and pulled him over.

Prosecutor Robert Welling told the court that Benevide was subsequently arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station. At the station he submitted to a blood-alcohol test where the lowest reading was 197 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner fined Benevide $1,000 and banned him from driving all vehicle for 12 months.