A DRINK driver has escaped a licence ban after telling magistrates how he was trying to flee a man who had assaulted him.

Manchester magistrates heard how Leighton Hacking, aged 22, of Gargrave Avenue, Bolton, was caught driving a van on Hulton Lane, Bolton, on January 9 when he was over the alcohol limit.

Tests showed he had 60mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal driving limit is 35mcg.

Hacking pleaded guilty to committing the offence but the court decided that there were special reasons for not imposing a driving ban as he had been “at risk of personal injury, assaulted by a male and was trying to remove himself from the threat.

He was fined £162 plus £194 in costs.