Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on January 23 how Daniel Thomas Sewell, 31, had been driving a Ford Transit van when he was involved in a collision with the rear of a car.
Prosecuting solicitor Becky Allsop said: “The other motorist was stationary on Derby Road, in Chesterfield, in waiting traffic when the van collided with the back of her vehicle.”
Police were called and, according to Mrs Allsop, Sewell registered 54microgrammes of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath when the legal limit is 35microgrammes.
Sewell told police he had consumed eight or nine cans of Stella Artois lager the night before the incident and claimed the vehicle in front had broken sharply before he skidded and collided with it.
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He admitted exceeding the alcohol drink-drive limit.
Defence solicitor Euan Edwards said: “He knows he caused an accident and the first thing he did was to make sure the driver was okay.”
Mr Edwards added that Sewell has lost his job as a landscape gardener as a result of an inevitable driving ban but he hopes to get work as a plasterer.
District Judge Andrew Davidson told Sewell: “You did not think hard enough about being able to drive.
“Plainly, you must have been over the limit and you chose to drive and did not think it through.”
Sewell, of Henry Street, in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, was fined £300 and ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge and £85 costs after the incident on December 18.
He was banned from driving for 14 months but if he completes a drink-driving rehabilitation course he can reduce the disqualification by 15 months.