AN INFANTRY soldier was driving in the dark with no lights on and swerved in the road after drinking at a party, a court heard.

Ritbahadur Gurung, of The Avenue in Middle Wallop, admitted to drink driving in Cholderton when he appeared at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Bethany Adams, prosecuting, said police were travelling on the A303 at around 11.35pm on August 27 and noticed a Nissan Qashqai with no lights which swerved and hit a curb.

She said at one point officers say the vehicle ended up leaving the road and going onto a grass verge before rejoining the carriageway.

The car which had turned onto the B3084 towards Thruxton was stopped by officers who reported the driver smelling of alcohol and having “large pupils and glazed eyes”.

The 45-year-old was found to have 98 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, exceeded the prescribed limit.

Ms Adams told the court that an aggravating feature of the case was the defendant’s “unacceptable standard of driving” described by police.

William Griffiths, defending, said that the 45-year-old who was an “infantry man” in the armed forces had no previous convictions, reprimands or cautions against him and had “cooperated fully” with the police and admitted the offence at the earliest opportunity.

Mr Griffiths said: “On the occasion in question he can’t explain why he made the decision to drive. He had been at a party and taken alcohol with him. With his judgement affected by that very alcohol he thought he would drive home.”

“The consequence of that is he loses his good name and jeopardises his career in the army,” he added. Describing the incident as a “severe lapse of judgement” when the defendant was under the influence of alcohol.

Gurung’s commanding officer said he was of “good character” and had a long-service career of 24 years and prior to this incident had an “exemplary record”.

Gurung was given a 12-month community order and will have to complete 80 hours of unpaid work. He was also disqualified from driving for 25 months. This disqualification period can be reduced by 25 per cent if the defendant completes a drink driving awareness course.

In addition to this he was ordered to pay a surcharge of £114 and court costs of £85.