A JEDBURGH motorist who drove to a petrol station for cigarettes while almost five times the legal alcohol limit has been banned from the road for 20 months at the town's sheriff court.

Graham Slorance of Howden Drive, pleaded guilty to driving with a breath/alcohol count of 102 microgrammes - the legal limit being 22 - on the A68 in Jedburgh during the early hours of November 20.

Procurator fiscal Graham Fraser said: "At 2.20am the accused went to the Shell petrol station to buy cigarettes. It was noted by the counter assistant that he was smelling strongly of alcohol and had difficulty putting in his PIN number.

"The police were aware of this and when he was stopped he was found to have a reading of 102 - the limit being 22.

"It was a very foolish piece of behaviour."

Defence lawyer Maureen Sinclair said the 25-year-old supervisor for an excavation firm accepted he had been "particularly stupid" and that he would need to perform other functions to keep his job.

She said: "This will have serious consequences for his employment.

"He had been on a night out and went to buy cigarettes."

In addition to being disqualified, Slorance was fined £350 by Sheriff Peter Paterson.

He refused a motion for Slorance to be put on a drink drivers rehabilitation scheme which would entitle him to a 25 per cent discount on the length of the ban if he completed it at his own expense saying he knew exactly what he was doing.