A lorry driver delivering BEER has been banned from the road after admitting being over the drink-drive limit while behind the wheel of a huge 26-tonne wagon.

Brian Dunn was spotted by traffic officers last month after they suspected he was over the limit while driving the massive HGV, ‘fully-laden’ with booze.

The 52-year-old was pulled over on Charlestown Road in Blackley on May 24 at around 3pm, before blowing positive for alcohol at the side of the road.

He blew two further positive samples in custody.

Dunn, from Moston, had 53 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millimetres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Appearing before Manchester Magistrates’ Court, he said he lost his job at a brewery, which wasn’t named, the day after the incident.

He pleaded guilty to drink driving and was banned from the road for 14 months.

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The court heard Dunn was spotted driving the fully-loaded HGV by officers, who pulled him over, suspecting he was over the legal limit.

Dunn told officers he had been drinking the night before, but insisted he had not had a drink that day.

After being arrested, he said he had been drinking heavily the previous night, went to bed late and got up early for work.

Dunn told police he didn’t think he would be over the limit when he took to the wheel.

Representing himself in court, he told magistrates he had had a ‘bad night’ because of an issue with his daughter and her boyfriend, adding: “I do feel bad about it now.”

Dunn asked magistrates to let him go on a rehabilitation course for drink drivers.

Chair of the bench Philip Kershaw told him: “This is a very serious offence. We have no alternative but to ban you from driving - from now, for 14 months.

“If you drive within that time, it will be an extremely serious offence.”

Dunn, who has had to go on benefits since losing his job, was fined £120 and ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

The cash will be taken from his welfare payments.