US Edition BARRY JOHN, the former Wales and British Lions rugby player, was banned from driving for three years and ordered to do 180 hours of community service yesterday after admitting a second drink-driving offence.
| Barry John: will attend a self-help programme |
John, 56, a restaurateur, also agreed to attend an alcohol "self-help programme". Cardiff magistrates were told that John had been taken to a police station in Cardiff by officers who found him slumped over his steering wheel on the hard shoulder of the M4 at 11.30am on Sunday, April 22.
Katrin Davies, prosecuting, said John had given officers a roadside breath test which proved positive and told them: "I know I'm p***ed." But he failed to provide two specimens when asked at the police station.
The court was told that a doctor who examined John said he did not have a drink problem. But the magistrates decided that the three-year ban would be cut by nine months if he joined the self-help programme.
At a previous hearing, John, of Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff, admitted failing to provide a breath specimen. Seven years ago he was banned for 18 months for a similar offence.