A MAN was caught drink driving after he raced to the aid of his elderly mother, a court heard.

Paul Joseph McManus was visited by police for driving while over the limit on the way to helping his mother after she had fallen at home.

South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court was told the 61-year-old defendant was more than three times the legal limit for alcohol at Whinlatter Drive in Barrow on July 12.

Prosecutor Peter Kelly said: “Police received information the defendant being unfit to drive his vehicle.

“At 5.10pm they went to his home address and his vehicle was seen to have been driving.”

McManus was found to have had 112 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, over the limit of 35.

Michael Graham, defending, said: “Mr McManus had some personal problems he had been dealing with at the time of the offence.

“He had a call from his mother to say she had had a fall.

“Without thinking, his immediate reaction was to get back to Whinlatter Drive to attend to his mother.

“To his credit he didn’t prevaricate and as a result of this mistake he finds himself with a conviction at the age of 61.”

Mr Graham said the defendant going out at night was ‘unusual’ and that he would find it more difficult to run errands for his ill mother if he was banned from driving.

For the offence, the defendant, of Whinlatter Drive, was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for 26 months.