A MOTORIST stopped by police sped away when the officer asked him to step out of his car.

Blackburn magistrates heard the officer recognised Michael Flynn and alerted colleagues who were waiting for him when he turned up at the Bury hotel where he was living.

Flynn, 35, of Buttermere Avenue, Bacup, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol and failing to stop for police. He was fined £900 with £85 costs and £95 victim surcharge and disqualified from driving for 22 months.

Katie Lord, prosecuting, said an officer saw a Land Rover Discovery being driven at speed towards Rawtenstall and pulled the vehicle over.

“The driver, who the officer recognised having spoken to him recently about other matters, appeared to have been drinking,” said Miss Lord.

“The officer asked him to get out of the vehicle to provide a specimen of breath and his reaction was to speed off.”

Miss Lord said the officer knew Flynn was living at the Village Hotel and alerted colleagues.

They were at the hotel when Flynn turned up 10 minutes later.

“They waited until he had finished parking and then blocked him in,” said Miss Lord. At the police station Flynn provided a breathalyser reading of 66 against the legal limit of 35.

Graeme Parkinson, defending, said his client’s mother had died in 2015 and this had been the start of his drinking. He went through a detox programme and abstained until March 2020 which was the start of lockdown.

“He says it affected him, his wife and his children and put a strain on the marriage,” said Mr Parkinson.

“They got through the firstlock down but the second one took its toll and they split up.”

He said his client, who works in IT and has a £35,000-a-year salary, moved into a hotel and had since been through the same detox programme. “He has now not had a drink for 17 days and promises he will never drink alcohol again because it has only brought him problems,” said Mr Parkinson.