A SUSPECTED drink-driver who had to be stopped by police using a stinger device on the M5 motorway near Wellington has been banned from driving and given a suspended a prison sentence.

Stuart Kent, aged 45, of Benfieldside, Durham, had been spotted driving a Vauxhall Vivaro panel van erratically on the motorway’s southbound carriageway from Avonmouth into Somerset on Sunday, November 30.

Police said the vehicle was swerving between lanes and they suspected the driver to be under the influence of alcohol.

Kent seemed unable to drive in a straight line and the van at times moved close to other vehicles on the motorway and on a number of occasions narrowly avoided a collision.

Tactics which were used to try to stop Kent proved unsuccessful and officers were eventually forced to deploy a stinger device to deflate the vehicle’s tyres near to the Taunton Deane motorway service station.

Kent, who smelled strongly of alcohol, refused to allow a roadside alcohol test to be carried out and was therefore arrested and taken into custody, where he again refused to undergo a test and was charged.

His case was brought before magistrates in Taunton in December, when he pleaded guilty and the matter was transferred to magistrates in Newcastle upon Tyne and an interim driving ban imposed.

Newcastle magistrates sentenced Kent on Tuesday (January 27).

He faced three counts of failing to co-operate with a preliminary test, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, and driving without due care and attention.

The magistrates imposed a 16-week jail term, which they suspended for 18 months, and banned Kent from driving for three years.

They also ordered Kent should attend six months of an alcohol treatment programme, and must carry out a maximum of 10 days of rehabilitation activities and complete 200 hours of unpaid community work within 12 months of sentencing.