A 63-YEAR-OLD man breathalysed as he left a shop car park returned the following day to collect his vehicle and failed another breath test.

Blackburn magistrates heard that on the second occasion John O’Malley was more than double the drink-drive limit. And he blamed treating toothache with whiskey for his alcohol level.

O’Malley, of Lawrence Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to two charges of driving with excess alcohol. He was fined £300 with £105 and banned from driving for 28 months.

Peter Wild, prosecuting, said staff at a supermarket on Whalley Banks called police after O’Malley came into the shop smelling of alcohol. He was stopped as he left and gave a breathalyser reading of 54 against the legal limit of 35.

The next day police were again informed O’Malley was driving and had been drinking. He was stopped on Carlinghurst Road and this time gave a reading of 88.

Gareth Price, defending, said on the day of the second offence O’Malley was suffering a severe toothache.

“He had medicated by using whiskey as a mouthwash and obviously some of that had got into his system,” said Mr Price.