A PSYCHIATRIST suspected of drink driving repeatedly failed to give a breath test to police, Burnley magistrates were told.

Dr Mdimu Charua Ngoma, 46, had been followed and stopped in Westway, Burnley, by police.

Officers had been alerted after an assistant at Kitchens Garage in the town was said to have smelled alcohol on him in the early hours.

Ngoma, an outreach medic in the Pendle area, did not give a breath test either at the roadside or the police station, the court was told.

Ngoma, of Cravenwood, Ashton-under-Lyne, admitted failing to provide a specimen for analysis on February 25. He had no previous convictions.

The defendant was banned from driving for 12 months and was fined £300, with £100 costs.

Ngoma was offered the drink drive rehabilitation scheme and his licence was endorsed.

Sentencing Ngoma, who has held a UK driving licence since last year, the justices told him the aggravating features of the case were that he had been given several opportunities to give a breath test but failed.

They said the defendant had been a potential risk to other motorists, but they had noted his "exemplary," previous good character.