Drink-driver who was stopped by public sentenced

A motorist who was five times over the legal limit when members of the public stopped him from driving by taking the keys out of the ignition has been sentenced.

Steve Mahon, 44, from Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, pleaded guilty last year to driving while over the limit on Potteries Way on 22 October.

Police had previously described how alarmed passers-by "stopped him at the scene until we got there" by pulling the keys out of the ignition so that he could not drive.

At North Staffordshire Justice Centre, Mahon was handed a 12-week jail term suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving.

He was also given a rehabilitation activity, court officials said.

After his guilty plea, Staffordshire Police said Mahon had given a reading of 180 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath at the scene. The legal limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol.

He was tested again in custody, police added, and the reading was 165 micrograms - still more than four times over the limit.

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