FALLING asleep in his car after a drinking binge in Felixstowe and then refusing to provide a second breath test has led to a man being banned from driving.

By Jessica Nicholls

FALLING asleep in his car after a drinking binge in Felixstowe and then refusing to provide a second breath test has led to a man being banned from driving.

Allen Regan was spotted by police near the seafront slumped over the wheel of his car in the early hours of the morning last August.

South East Suffolk magistrates heard that the 44-year-old, from Sheffield, had travelled to Felixstowe from Great Yarmouth where he had been staying with his wife.

Prosecuting solicitor Andrew Fitch-Holland told magistrates how police had spotted Regan's Toyota parked on Undercliff Road West at around 2.25am on August 18.

Mr Fitch-Holland said: "He appeared to be sleeping but the keys were in the ignition and the engine was engaged as the dashboard lights were on."

He said that following a positive road side breath test, Regan was arrested but became violent and kicked out at police officers.

Assistance was requested and Regan was put into a police van where he continued to kick and head butt the sides of the vehicle.

Mr Fitch-Holland said that Regan had left his wife in Great Yarmouth and had travelled to Felixstowe where he drank between two and three pints in a pub, before moving on to another where he drank four pints and then to a nightclub where he spent around £30 on alcohol.

Although the initial roadside breath test was positive, once at the police station, Regan refused to take a further breath test that would have indicated to officers exactly how much alcohol he had consumed.

Mr Fitch-Holland said: "He became aggressive again and refused to leave his cell (for the breath test) because he thought police officers were messing him around."

Defending solicitor Roger Stewart told magistrates that Regan had had a row with his wife and had decided to go to Felixstowe because he had been there on a day trip and liked it.

Mr Stewart said: "He was feeling stressed and angry.

"He went back to the car (after the drinks) because he had nowhere else to go.

"It was there that he was arrested by the police.

"He acknowledges that he was in charge of the vehicle but had no intention of driving it."

Mr Stewart also pointed out that Regan said he had been mugged on the way back to the vehicle which is why the police had been called to the area in the first place.

Regan pleaded guilty to the charge of refusing to provide a breath test and to assaulting a police officer and has been banned from driving for an interim period until pre-sentence reports can be gathered.

He was granted conditional bail to remain at his Sheffield address and is to reappear at Ipswich Magistrates court on February 26.