A FORMER soldier suffering with PTSD has been banned from driving for four years after being caught with more than twice the legal amount of alcohol in his system.

Callam Andrew Whyatt, 30, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving without insurance during a hearing at Chester Magistrates Court on Friday (May 24).

Police officers spotted him driving his Lexus at speed through Boughton with no lights on May 5 this year.

They could smell alcohol when they stopped him and he recorded 80 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath in a roadside test. The legal limit is 35.

The court heard the defendant has seven previous convictions for 12 offences including several other driving-related matters.

Richard Sibeon, defending, said Whyatt accepted he was over the limit but had not been aware his headlights were switched off.

He stands to lose his job as a civil engineer as he is required to drive all over the country.

The court heard he had struggled with mental health issues since leaving the army and was in England to earn money to send back to his wife and son at their home in Thailand.

Besides the driving ban, District Judge Nicholas Sanders also sentenced Whyatt to a 12-month community order to include 40 days of rehabilitation activity and 80 hours of unpaid work.

Whyatt, of Catherine Street, Chester, was also ordered to undertake a ‘Thinking Skills’ programme through the Probation Service.