Drink driving: 20-month ban for Alan Brazil
Former Ipswich Town star Alan Brazil was found guilty of drink-driving on Wednesday – and then compared his conviction to the offside rule.
The former town, Manchester United and Tottenham striker, now a radio presenter with TalkSPORT, had denied the charge, arguing there was a fault with the breathalyser – while his solicitor Gary Bromelow argued that police had not followed correct procedures.
But Sudbury magistrates found him guilty and banned him from driving for 20 months.
Speaking afterwards, Brazil said: "I'm disappointed, of course. It's tricky. It is a grey area. It is a bit like the offside law in terms of procedure. We might take it further.
"I think I'm the first guy to ever be done for going too slow.
"I'm still not sure that it was the right verdict today and it is something we might go to appeal over."
The 48-year-old former Scottish striker was stopped as he drove along the A14 at Woolpit in the early hours of September 16.
Magistrates heard how Brazil, who had been driving to his home in Lower Raydon from a charity event in Ely, had been driving at between 50 and 55mph.
Lynn Shirley, prosecuting, said officers smelled alcohol and said Brazil was red-eyed.
He failed three times to give a breath test – eventually giving a reading of 77 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath (more than twice the legal limit) on his fourth attempt.
He confessed to the officer that he had drunk a bottle of wine about eight hours earlier and could not understand why he was over the limit, said Ms Shirley.
Although banned from driving for 20 months, Brazil was offered a rehabilitation course that could see that cut by five months.
Magistrates also fined him 750 and ordered him to pay 455 costs and a 15 victim surcharge.
Afterwards, Brazil said that he believed he would keep his job at TalkSPORT, but said the driving ban would 'curtail' a lot of his charity work.
Brazil made 13 appearances for Scotland and won the UEFA Cup with Ipswich in 1981 and Spurs in 1984 before retiring through injury at the age of 27.
In 2006, he released his autobiography, There's an Awful Lot of Bubbly in Brazil.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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