Two local men were banned from driving after pleading guilty to drink driving offences in court yesterday.

In the first case heard before the Magistrates, Julian Stephen Alvez, 19, of Europa Road, was fined £250 and banned from the roads for nine months.

The court heard that just before 6am on Saturday 17 June this year, RGP officers were patrolling in a marked police van north on Rosia Road, when Alvez rode his motorcycle towards them at speed, driving against the flow of traffic with his fog lights on.

Officers switched on their blue lights and signalled for Alvez to stop – but instead he accelerated at speed and drove into the Bayview Terraces garage to escape.

The Response Team officers chased Alvez on foot into the garage, where he became trapped in a dead-end.

He was immediately handcuffed. It was then that officers noticed his speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet and he smelt strongly of alcoholic drink.

After being arrested on suspicion of Failing to Stop, he blew 51ug on the road side breath test – the legal limit being 35ug.

Cannabis weighing 2.9g was then found in his motorcycle and he was further arrested on suspicion of Possession of a Class B Drug and Driving Against the Flow of Traffic. At NMH, he blew a higher reading of 56ug on the evidential machine.

He also received a £100 fine for Possession of Cannabis and no separate penalty for Driving Against the Flow of Traffic and Failing to Stop.

In the second case before the courts yesterday, Donovan Martinez, 38, of the Alameda Estate, was banned from the roads for 18 months and fined £300.

The court heard that at around 4am on Wednesday 12 October last year, officers on patrol in Rosia Road noticed a black BMW which was being driven at speed in an erratic manner.

On stopping the vehicle, officers could smell alcohol and they observed that the driver’s eyes were red and glazed. Having agreed to take a roadside breath test, Martinez blew 50ug and, as a result, he was arrested on suspicion of Driving with Alcohol Concentration over the Limit.

Once he was at New Mole House, Martinez took a test on the evidential machine where he blew 42ug – the legal limit is 35ug.