A SERIAL drink-driver has been locked up for a year after clocking up his 38th conviction for getting behind the wheel while banned and his tenth excess alcohol-related offence.
Alcoholic Robert Khan (58) had flouted the rules of the road yet again when he had struck three months into a two year suspended jail term.
It had been imposed for driving while disqualified and attempting to pervert the course of justice, after the defendant had reported the car he was driving had been stolen, Burnley Crown Court heard.
The hearing had been told Khan, who started breaking the law when he was about 12, had been about three times the legal limit when he had been on a stopped on a scooter on a country road by police at about 7 p.m. on May 23rd.
He wasn’t able to provide any kind of specimen when tested at the police station. Telling a judge about the scooter, the defendant, said to have rowed with his partner, claimed: “I thought I am not going to hurt anybody on this, except perhaps myself”, but Recorder Anthony Cross, QC, pointed out: “What about a child?”
Khan, of Gisburn Street, Barnoldswick, had admitted driving while unfit through drink, driving whilst disqualified and no insurance.
Recorder Cross imposed two months behind bars for the driving offences and activated 10 months of the 16 month suspended sentence. The defendant, who had been committed for sentence by Pennine Magistrates, was also banned for three years.
Sarah Statham, prosecuting, said police noticed drivers putting their brake lights on and then saw a motor scooter swerving and being driven erratically on a back road between Barnoldswick and Barrowford.
They caught up with the defendant, who they described as “extremely drunk”. Khan gave a roadside breath test which showed he was nearly three times the drink drive limit.
The defendant has 37 previous convictions for driving whilst disqualified and nine for drink driving-related offences.
Sentencing, Recorder Cross told Khan: “Nobody wants to send people like you to jail if they can avoid it, but unfortunately you are a volunteer. You keep volunteering for jail.”
The judge said the defendant had committed the offences only three months into the two year suspended term and continued: “You didn’t even give it that much of a go.” Recorder Cross, who said Khan had “an appalling record,” added: “Let’s hope you dry out in jail.”