POLICE discovered the driver of a car being driven without lights was more than three times the drink- drive limit.
Wayne Horace Bickerstaff, 36, gave a reading of 113 microgrammes, compared with the legal limit of 35.
Bickerstaff, of Cae Petit in Flint, was also in breach of a previous community order for a public order offence when he was drunk on a train.
At Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold yesterday Bickerstaff was placed on a 12-month community order.
He was placed on supervision and was sent on a course run by the probation service to tackle his alcohol problem.
District judge Andrew Shaw also banned him from driving for 12 months.
The judge said he took into account the period Bickerstaff had already served in custody but he was now sober, had a new perspective on life and was now in a position to accept the assistance of the probation service.
Matthew Ellis, prosecuting, told how police saw Bickerstaff driving a Vauxhall Corsa in Chester Road in Flint. It had no lights on and the police followed.
It stopped near Tesco and a passenger went to a cash machine.
Bickerstaff smelt of alcohol and his eyes were glazed and the police took the view he had been drinking. He was arrested when he provided a positive roadside screening test.
Bickerstaff was in breach of a community order for a public order offence from August of last year when he frightened two women travelling on a Chester to Holyhead train.
He tried to sit by one when drunk, and when they ignored him he threatened to kill them.
They fled to the back of the train to get the assistance of the conductor.
One victim was allowed off the train before other passengers and fled when Bickerstaff got off the train as well.
Melissa Griffiths, defending, said Bickerstaff had been off alcohol during the week while looking after his son.
But when the child care arrangements were changed and he no longer had his son he sought solace in the bottle.
The drink driving offence occurred when he had been drinking whisky in the afternoon.
He went to bed and had a sleep and when contacted in the early hours of the morning and asked to take a friend to get some cash, he agreed to do so.
“My client thought that he would be fit to drive,” she explained.
It was his case that he was not reliant on alcohol but that he did binge drink.
He had a good work ethic and was anxious to find employment.