AN Ipswich bricklayer who was found drunk and slumped at the wheel of his car has avoided conviction at court.Robert Day was almost three times over the drink drive limit when police found him asleep in his black Mondeo at 1am.

AN Ipswich bricklayer who was found drunk and slumped at the wheel of his car has been found not guilty at court.

Robert Day was almost three times over the drink drive limit when police found him asleep in his black Mondeo at 1am.

His neighbour from Downham Boulevard had been woken by 25-year-old Day revving his engine, but when he went outside to protest he could not rouse Day whose foot was on the accelerator.

The neighbour switched off the engine and called the police when he could not wake Day.

Amrik Wahiwala, prosecuting at South East Suffolk Magistrates Court, said as Day came round from his drunken stupor he “mumbled” something about driving the car and he was arrested for drink driving.

A test revealed that Day had 102 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath the legal limit is 35 micrograms.

However Day pleaded not guilty to the charge because he was certain he had not driven the car while he was drunk and his girlfriend said the car had not been moved since 9pm.

Diana Infanti, defending Day, said her client had been to boxing training and had parked his car at home at about 8.30pm before walking to the Haven Public House on Felixstowe Road.

Day's girlfriend, hairdresser Leanne Daniels, had become angry when she spotted the car was back and Day was not and had bolted the doors to their ground floor flat.

Non-drinker Miss Daniels, 25, told the court: “I was angry because obviously he had driven his car home because he wanted to go to the pub. I knew he had gone drinking because otherwise he would have taken his car.”

Day told police he had driven earlier that evening but could not remember anything about later that night.

Mrs Infanti said the car was parked “perfectly straight” in their private parking space. The engine would have been hot from the revving even if it had not been driven. Miss Daniels had seen the parked car throughout the evening and no one had seen Day driving the car on a public road.

Magistrates found Day not guilty of drink driving.