A MAN was over the limit when he disobeyed police orders and then drove straight towards a police officer, narrowly missing him.

Mohammed Fiaz, a jobless 26 year-old, of Clement Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, without insurance and while disqualified.

Blackpool magistrates said they were giving Fiaz a last chance to stay out of prison.

He was sentenced to a 12 months rehabilitation order, banned from the road for 18 months and told to pay £60 costs.

Prosecutor Peter Bardsley said on May 31 at 2.30am police were dealing with a public disturbance in the resort's Talbot Square. Fiaz was with two companions and they were told by an officer to stay near their Citroen.

The prosecutor added: "The officer then saw the vehicle being driven towards him. The car drove round the officer, close by him."

Fiaz was stopped and a breath test showed he was almost twice over the limit with 61 microgrammes of alcohol in his body.

At Burnley Crown Court in 1998 for an offence of dangerous driving Fiaz was banned for two years and until he had passed an extended driving test. He had not passed the extended test when he drove towards the policeman. Fiaz also had two previous convictions for disqualified driving.

Mitch Sarangi, defending, said his client had developed quite a significant alcohol problem, but it was Fiaz's first offence of drink driving.