A LEARNER driver was caught behind the wheel by police with more than double the legal amount of alcohol in his system.

Police were tipped off a Mercedes was being driven by Scott Smith around Colchester town centre just after 3am on March 10.

When they arrived on Colchester High Street, door staff at nightclub Atik confirmed Smith had been drinking and he was later Smith was pulled over in East Hill, Colchester.

When he was breathalysed at Clacton police station, it showed Smith, 23, had 77 mcgs of alcohol per 100 mls of breath. The legal limit is 35.

He also only holds a provisional driving license and did not have insurance to be driving the car.

Smith, of Williams Walk, Colchester, admitted drink driving and driving without a licence and insurance when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

Mitigating, James O’Toole said: “Alcohol is not normally an issue for him and does not usually drink to excess.

“On this occasion he was out with friends and accepts what he did was wrong.”

Magistrates disqualified him from driving for 20 months.

Smith will also pay a £120 fine, £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.