Kevin Bentley learned the hard way.

Get caught drinking and driving and life becomes a little less kind.

His wife and friends never wavered, but the man who could have been the Conservatives' choice to fight the new Witham constituency felt obliged to withdraw his name.

His resignation from Colchester Council's cabinet may have been refused, but not this. A candidate banned from driving because he had drunk too much at a private dinner was not electable - either to become a candidate or an MP.

"But, on a personal note, I had to pull out," he revealed.

"I could not have stood in front of a selection panel after doing what I had done. That would not have been humble - and I believe in humility."

It is more than a year since Mr Bentley, now 43, was stopped by the police as he drove home to West Mersea from Peldon. A breath test gave a reading of 54 mcgs. The limit is 35. He was on his way to court.

"I appeared in court one at Colchester Magistrates' Court," he said.

"I was in the dock, behind security glass - in fact, the glass made it difficult to hear what was going on."

As a journalist, he had been in court many times, but always on the press bench and always with a professional distance between him and the accused. This time, though, he was the accused. This time it was personal.

"There weren't many people in court, and I imagine I was in the building for 15 minutes at the most, but sitting in that dock was a daunting experience and a definite fall from grace. That was part of the punishment, I suppose."

He was banned from driving for 12 months, but was offered the chance to have it cut to nine months if he went on a Government-sponsored drink awareness course. It was, he said, one of the best things he ever did.

"There were three weekly meetings in Colchester Quaker Meeting House," he recalled. "I suppose there were between 20 and 30 of us, of varying ages, and all convicted of drink driving."

The course had such an effect on him he believes it should be compulsory for all those learning to drive.

"We weren't told we had been wrong to drink-drive, because we all knew we had been and what the consequences could have been," he declared.

"What the course did was show the effects alcohol can have on your body and, crucially, the effect it has on reflexes."

Alcohol slows the reflexes, and that sluggishness can be the difference between a near-miss and a fatal road accident. Hence the drink-driving laws.

"What I didn't realise was the amount of time it takes for alcohol to leave your body, especially if you over-indulge," he said.

"From that moment I came to the decision that even if I have only one drink, I will not drive."

That November night last year he believed he had been safe to drive. He had been drinking wine, but had switched to water long before he began the drive home.

"I felt fine - never better," he pointed out. "If I had thought I would have been unfit to drive or was anywhere near the drink-drive limit, I would never have got into my car."

Which is what most people who have drunk what they think is within the limit believe - especially now, in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year.

Kevin Bentley believes many commuters fall under this misconception. It's a familiar scenario, one the police know very well - a few drinks at the office party (just enough to be pleasantly merry, not drunk), sleep it off on the train and be within the limit to drive home from the station.

"They may feel sober, but the alcohol will still be in their bodies - and that is the point," he said. "The drink is still affecting them."

And that could end not just in their disgrace but their death - or worse, someone else's.

THE CAMPAIGNS

Both Essex Police and Essex County Council's casualty reduction board (ECRB) have launched Christmas 2007 anti-drink drive campaigns.

In the 2006 police campaign (from December 1-31) Essex Police stopped 8,264 drivers. Of those, 167 failed breath tests. In Colchester and Tendring, 1,055 drivers were tested and 37 were positive. Of the 167, 37 per cent had previous drink-driving convictions.

In 2005, 255 drivers were positive out of 8,416 tested.

At this year's ECRB launch, an Essex mother whose 22-year-old son was killed by a drink-driver 11 years ago helped raise awareness of the campaign.

THE FIGURES

  • More than 3,000 people are killed or seriously injured each year in the UK in drink-drive accidents
  • One in six deaths on the road involve drivers who are over the legal limit (35mcgs in every 100mls of breath)
  • Drink-driving occurs most in the 17-29 male age group
  • In 2006, Essex had the UK's second highest number of drivers stopped for breath test (5,216) with 156 positive. A further 1,681 were carried out on under-25s; 47 were positive.