A FATHER-of-two caught over the drink-drive limit told a court he was law abiding and things had just built up.

Noel Marsden, 42, said his firm had been taken over by another company just before he committed the offence.

He said: "Nobody knew anything about it. I was pretty upset and we all decided to go to the pub."

Marsden, of Renshaw Street, Burnley, was banned from driving for 18 months and fined £150 after he admitted driving with excess alcohol and having no insurance.

John Wood, prosecuting, said the lower of two breath tests showed 58 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Marsden, who was not represented, said that he had worked at the company for 20 years before the takeover and had been upset about it, although he still had a job.

He added: "I was foolish. I am law abiding but things just built up. I don't normally do things like that."

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