A CARDIGAN drink-driver who was nearly four times over the legal limit has been handed a suspended jail sentence and banned from driving for 32 months.

Benjamin Howard Griffiths, of Ferwig, Cardigan, was stopped while driving a Citroen C3 on an unclassified road between Cardigan and Ferwig on May 7. He gave a reading of 137 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Griffiths pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol when he appeared before magistrates at Aberystwyth Justice Centre.

Sentencing the 35-year-old to 12 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months, the court took into account the high reading and that Griffiths had been driving on a busy road during the hours of daylight.

Magistrates imposed a 32-month driving ban and a community rehabilitation order requiring Griffiths to participate in any activity required up to a maximum of 20 days. He must carry out 240 hours of unpaid work in the next 12 months.

Griffiths was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a £115 victim surcharge.