Driving ban for farmer caught three times over the limit on 5mph mobility scooter

A disabled farmer who was more than three times over the drink-drive limit while driving his mobility scooter has been banned from driving.

Glendale Rice, 58, was spotted by police as he weaved across a narrow country lane on a five miles-per-hour trip to the shops.

When the woman officer spoke to him they could smell alcohol on his breath so made him take a breathalyser test.

The results showed he was three time the legal limit for driving and at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court he was banned from driving a car for a year.

Bizarrely JPs said he could still use his scooter, which he needs to get around on because of his arthritis problems.

Rice, a former market trader, says he is crippled by arthritis and lives alone in a remote caravan with his pet hen Limpy.

Outside court he admitted that the police had been right to pull him over on Monday.
He said: ‘It was fair enough really, but the scooter only does a maximum of 5mph and it takes me an hour to get to

Abbeytown and an hour to get to Silloth.
‘It’s important to me. I wasn’t wobbling on the scooter when I was on it, and when I got to Abbeytown the shop was shut anyway.

‘The police said I can still use it but I shouldn’t drink anything beforehand.