A BUSINESSMAN who was forced to place his IT firm in liquidation was found in the seat of a parked car when he was more than four times the drink-drive limit.

Christopher Coan, 58, was apprehended by police parked up in his Vauxhall Passat at the end of Slack Lane in Hawarden.

He said to officers “Guilty, I’ve had a drink, I’ve parked my car and I know I shouldn’t be driving.”

The police were acting on a tip-off after Coan’s vehicle was seen “driving a loop” on the A55 by someone who was concerned about the driver’s welfare as he felt he was “barely able to stand up”.

Coan, of Church Farm Cottages, Church Lane, Guilden Sutton, near Chester, admitted being in charge of a vehicle having consumed alcohol above the limit on August 10 this year.

A test showed a reading of 142mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath; the legal limit being 35.

Coan told the court that his life was in crisis after his company hit trouble when his business partner removed £450,000 from the coffers coupled with his own adverse health diagnosis.

“I had to liquidate the company, there has been a lot of stress – I have 12 staff and they have kids and mortgages,” he said. “I have type 3 prostate cancer which needs a procedure on it.

“I know what I did was wrong, but it was the circumstances and stress associated with these conditions.”

A probation report stated that Coan had received help from Alcoholics Anonymous, but he believed moderating his drinking was more realistic than abstinence.

Deputy District Judge Huw Edwards told Coan that he could have received a prison sentence as the breath test reading was “extremely high”.

But imposing a community sentence on him and banning him from the road for three years, the judge said: “I appreciate you have significant personal problems.”

Coan was fined £500 and he will have to attend 10 rehabilitation activity days. He has to pay £85 court costs and a £50 victim surcharge.