A MOTORIST who flagged down a police officer to help him change a tyre on his car was more than three times over the drink-drive limit, a court heard yesterday.

Nicholas Buck, 26, of Lawrence Street, York, was spared jail by magistrates in Darlington yesterday.

Instead Buck, who works for a recruitment consultancy in Harrogate, was ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work, was disqualified from driving for 32 months and fined £34 prosecution costs.

The court heard he had flagged down a police car at about 3.40am on August 29 in Darlington.

The officer had suspected he had been drinking and gave him a roadside breath test. He was arrested and the reading he showed he had 119mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal drink-drive limit is 35mg.

Initially, the court was considering a jail sentence.

But Graham Hunsley, in mitigation, said: "Ironically, had he not flagged the police down, he may not have been here. He was not observed driving the car."

He said Buck had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, had no previous convictions and that there had been no aggravating factors.

He said: "One would assume the lesson has already been learnt."

Magistrates' chairman Christopher Day described the case as an unfortunate incident and said: "A custodial steering was given because of the exceptionally high reading in this case."

Buck's driving ban could be reduced by a quarter if he completes a drink-driver rehabilitation scheme.