A FLINTSHIRE man has been banned from driving and fined after he failed to provide a sample of breath to police.

Ryan O'Gorman, of Kingston Drive in Connah's Quay, appeared at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The 43-year-old admitted that on January 28 at Gateshead, he failed to provide a specimen for analysis and drove a Volvo motor vehicle without insurance.

READ MORE: Bagillt man who possessed indecent movies of children spared jail

He also admitted that on Monday, when he was meant to be in court in Sunderland for the above offences, he failed to surrender to custody.

Rhian Jackson told the court that the initial offences arose from an incident at a McDonald's drive-thru in Sunderland.

Police had been alerted to a possible suspect driver, O'Gorman, whom they located and saw was in a vehicle with brake lights applied for no reason.

When officers switched on their blue lights and pursued him, he turned sharply and mounted a kerb as he entered a car park.

Upon speaking to him, the police realised he smelled strongly of alcohol and was "very unsteady" on his feet.

At a police station, he made two attempts to blow into an alcohol breath test - both times pausing mid way through and then continuing, which provided an incomplete sample.

But based on the breath he did provide in those attempts, the device showed more than 80 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the limit being 35.

Chris Clark, defending, told the court his client's marriage had recently broken down and he'd driven up to Newcastle to see some friends.

He said the defendant had suffered a chest infection at the time, and that with regards to his non-attendance at court in Sunderland, there had been a "breakdown in communications."

Mr Clark said his client had actually travelled to Newcastle to produce his documents on Monday, instead of to court - and ended up being arrested on warrant in the early hours of Tuesday.

Make sure you don't miss the top court stories of the week by signing up to our free court newsletter

The Leader:

District Judge Gwyn Jones told O'Gorman his manner of driving had clearly supported evidence that there had been "high levels of impairment" to his driving ability.

He handed down a 12 month community order - to include 160 hours of unpaid work, £85 costs, a £114 victim surcharge and a £250 fine.

O'Gorman was banned from driving for 32 months.