UK court sentences Sikh man for drunk-driving

London, Jan 18 (IANS) A 25-year-old Sikh has man has been fined and banned from roads for 22 months by a UK court for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Police found open cans of alcohol in Sukhpreet Singh's car after he was followed through a Derbyshire town swerving across lanes in November last year, the Derbyshire Live reported.

The Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court heard that Singh, a Pizza Hut worker and a resident of Higher Albert Street, Chesterfield, was driving without a license.

According to prosecutor Becky Allsop, a witness informed that Singh's car was swerving in and out of the zig-zag lines in the centre of the road, and vehicles travelling in the opposite direction had to flash their lights at him.

The witness, a driver, was following Singh's car and had informed the police about him.

The witness described the vehicle as coming to a stop in the middle of the road for no reason and then drove off again, still swerving all the way down the road, the report said.

"The road he turned into had two lanes in each direction and Singh crossed both the carriageways, went over the central raised pavement and came to rest facing the opposite direction to the way he should have been," Allsop was quoted as saying in Derbyshire Live.

Singh had a breath test reading of 77 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath -- almost twice the legal limit of 35, the court was informed.

Sajid Majeed, mitigating, said Singh has pleaded guilty, and had no previous convictions of any kind.

Majeed told the court that his client had moved to the UK with his wife from India and still takes care of the financial needs of his elderly parents back there.

The court fined Singh 250 pounds, ordered him to pay 85 pound costs, a 100 pound victim surcharge and disqualified him from driving for 22 months, according to Derbyshire Live.

The report added that the ban will be reduced by 25 per cent on the successful completion of a drink-drive awareness course, which Singh has agreed to undergo.