A 50-YEAR-OLD man who decided to drive home after falling out with his girlfriend at a barbecue attracted the attention of police when he suffered a puncture on the Shuttleworth Hall link road in Padiham.

Blackburn magistrates heard Michael Clarke failed a breathalyser test. He later admitted driving from Rochdale.

Clarke, of Clough Avenue, Walton-le-Dale, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol. He was fined £530, ordered to pay a £150 criminal court charge, £85 costs, a £50 victim surcharge and was banned from driving for 22 months.

The court heard police saw Clarke’s car stopped at the roadside at 1.45am, with Clarke sat in the passenger seat.

He told police he had been unable to change his wheel in the dark and decided to wait until daylight.

Paul Huxley, defending, said Clarke, a BAE Systems engineer, bitterly regretted the decision to drive home.