A Hitchin motorist has been jailed and banned from the road after he was found guilty of driving while more than three times the limit.

Zbigniew Ernest, of Seebohm Close, denied drunk driving and driving while disqualified when he appeared before St Albans magistrates, but was convicted and sentenced to 24 weeks behind bars.

The 40-year-old was found guilty of driving a Vauxhall Corsa on Hine Way while having 127 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35.

And in addition to the prison term he has been banned from driving for four years.

Ernest was already banned from driving and subject to a suspended sentence imposed following an incident in November last year when he drove through Letchworth while similarly intoxicated. The reading on that occasion was 131 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Magistrates chaired by Geoffrey Halls gave him a 12-week sentence for drunk driving and four weeks for driving while disqualified. The eight-week suspended sentence from the previous conviction was also activated to make a total term of 24 weeks.

In addition to the jail term, Ernest was fined £100 for not coming to court to answer bail last month, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £115.