A POLICE officer who saw a motor scooter "hurtle" past him stopped him and immediately spotted he had been drinking.

Burnley magistrates heard how Peter John Wilkinson, 49, was arrested after giving a positive breath sample and lower of two police station tests showed 53 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath -- the legal limit is 35.

Wilkinson, of Hameldon View, Read, admitted riding the scooter with excess alcohol and was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £100. He had no previous convictions.

Dylan Bradshaw, defending, said Wilkinson had never been before a court before. The offence was towards the lower end of the scale and there was no accident or erratic driving. The defendant fully co-operated with police.

Wilkinson had been to a friend's house and had had one can of beer. Although it was super strength, he thought he wouldn't be over the limit.