A trip to Canada for a ski instructor’s course was out of the question now for a 23-year-old Penryn man after he was caught driving when he was nearly three times the legal limit Truro magistrates heard.

When Jamie Harvey Thompson failed his roadside breath test after police stopped him because he had no lights on his car at 2.15 am in Falmouth, he told them: “I won’t be able to go to Canada. My mum is going to be really mad,”

Thompson, of Greenwood Road, Penryn, who had no previous convictions, was represented by Nicola Chandler who said he was deeply remorseful for what he had done. It was around exam time for his degree, and he had been to a party, intending to stay the night with friends. Things did not work out and he found himself tempted to drive home.

Thompson, who pleaded guilty to drink driving on May 16, was fined £330 with £268 costs and charges, and banned from driving for 24 months.