The owner of a town centre bar has been found guilty of drink-driving after being caught at the wheel of a BMW while over the legal alcohol limit.

Sin Bar owner Shabbir Khan, 46, of Woodplace Lane, Surrey, failed to appear before magistrates in Ipswich on Wednesday because he was exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms.

However, a trial went ahead in his absence as magistrates decided Khan had not provided sufficient medical evidence as instructed.

Suffolk Magistrates’ Court heard Khan, whose trial had been postponed from April 2020 due to coronavirus backlogs, had been pulled over by a police officer in Ipswich at around 3.10am on Sunday, December 1, 2019.

PC Ford, of Suffolk police, told the court he stopped a BMW after its driver failed to indicate before turning into Handford Road from Civic Drive.

He said a roadside breath test gave a result of 42mg in 100ml of breath and a further sample taken at Martlesham Police Investigation Centre recorded 45mg in 100ml. The legal limit is 35mg.

Prosecutor Mark Jackson said the defendant, who denied the offence and was not represented in court, had expressed concern about the reliability of the machine used to take the evidential sample.

He added that Khan had said the result was incompatible with what he says he consumed that evening.

PC Ford told magistrates Khan had been “cooperative and compliant” with providing both samples, with testing devices approved for use by the Home Office, adding that he had not raised any concerns about the validity of results at the time.

Mr Jackson described Khan as “kicking the can down the street” and “playing us all for fools” by not attending his trial and failing to provide evidence in defence of his arguments.

The court heard the defendant was awaiting the results of a Covid test after he reported losing his sense of smell on Tuesday morning.

Magistrates found him guilty of drink-driving with sentencing due to take place at a later date.