Two drink-drivers have had their licences taken away after being caught by police near Ipswich.

Carer David Welham, of Alderlee, near Stoke Park Drive, Ipswich, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol when he appeared before the town’s South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court.

The 61-year-old was stopped in Tuddenham Road on December 8.

Prosecutor Colette Harper said police received a call from a member of the public at 9.15am that the driver of a Peugeot 106 may have been drinking.

Officers were give a partial number plate for the car which was in Grundisburgh at the time.

After Welham was stopped a roadside breath test indicated a positive reading. A subsequent test showed he had 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcgs. Paul Donegan, representing Welham, said: “He misjudged it. It was early in the morning and he had been drinking the night before. He thought he would be ok – he wasn’t.”

District Judge Sandeep Kainth disqualified Welham from driving for 14 months and fined him £200.

He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and £20 to the victims’ fund.

At a later hearing before the same court, tearful tile company director Kerry Fitch, of Thornhill Road, Barham, near Ipswich, also admitted drink-driving.

The 47-year-old had been driving a BMW 520 in Ipswich Road, Claydon, on December 2.

The court was told Fitch was stopped at 2.45pm and a police officer smelled alcohol on her breath. A subsequent breath test showed she had 51mcgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath.

Paul Donegan, who also represented Fitch, said the mother-of-two was going through an acrimonious divorce and her estranged husband had made an anonymous call to police leading to her being stopped for drink-driving.

Fitch was also disqualified from driving for 14 months and fined £200.

In addition she must pay £85 costs and £20 to the victims’ fund.