KESGRAVE: A shamed dad is banned from the road today after driving to pick up his kids while FOUR TIMES the booze limit.

Simon Clark was stopped in Bell Lane, Kesgrave, on March 30 on the way to school.

The 44-year-old, of Halls Drift, Kesgrave, had 149mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

Clark appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court yesterday after pleading guilty to drink-driving and a separate offence of assaulting his wife.

Prosecutor Wayne Ablett said at an earlier hearing: “He told police he was suffering from depression after the death of his father and was on medication for that.”

Michael Stephenson, for Clark, said: “This is a man who has been getting into depression and alcohol for reasons about his father, the loss of his job and the failure of a business venture.

“This has a lot to do with him driving with an appallingly high level of alcohol.

“This is a man who has never been in trouble before and who does accept responsibility for what he did.

“He would deal poorly with custody and feels very nervous and anxious about the prospect of that.”

The court heard that Clark, who wept in the dock, assaulted his wife in front of their eight-year-old child in a separate incident on April 7.

Clark was disqualified from driving for three years and given a 16-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

For assaulting his wife, Clark was given 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

He was also given an 18-month supervision period and ordered to pay his wife compensation of �100.

n Have you been affected by drink driving? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or alternatively e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.