VICTOR King is paying the price today after drink driving despite having a 14-year-old female passenger.The 57-year-old Ipswich man admitted his second drink driving offence in five years.

VICTOR King is paying the price today after drink driving despite having a 14-year-old female passenger.

The 57-year-old Ipswich man admitted his second drink driving offence in five years.

And he accepted drinking lager and alcopops before putting the key in the ignition was not a good example for his teenage companion.

South East Suffolk Magistrates Court heard King, of Bramford Road, was stopped by police on December 15 in Kingston Road, Ipswich.

And his appearance in court takes Ipswich's Christmas catalogue of drink driving shame into double figures.

King is the 10th drink driver to sully the pages of the Evening Star since our name and shame campaign was launched at the start of December.

Prosecutor Stephen Colman said officers were very concerned King was carrying a young girl as a passenger.

A breath test was carried out at the scene. King was then taken to Ipswich Police Station where he was found to be twice the legal limit.

Mr Colman said police breath testing equipment showed 71mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is just 35mg.

Nikki Miller, mitigating, said her client knew he had not set a good example to his young passenger.

Miss Miller explained the girl had a troubled past and King, as a friend of the family, had become something of a shoulder to cry on.

She said the casual worker admitted going to the pub and drinking lager and Smirnoff Ice. But said he was astonished when he was over the limit.

King's positive test could have been caused by his speed of drinking.

Miss Miller said he was very thirsty on the day of the offence and had drunk quicker than usual.

Magistrates banned King from driving for three years. In fining him £75, they said they had taken his income and his early guilty plea into consideration.