A hospital doctor who treated an injured builder may have been the person who tipped off police that he had been drinking and was driving home.
Police were waiting for Dean Parker (53), who had been drinking whisky to dull the pain of a broken finger, when he arrived home in the early hours of November 26.
Prosecutor Paul Wood told Spalding magistrates police received information at 2am that day from someone who said Parker would be driving home from Grantham to Stainfield Road, Hanthorpe.
When Parker arrived home in his Landrover, police asked him to give a roadside breath test, which he failed.
An evidential test at the police station revealed 51 microgrammes of alcohol in breath – the legal limit is 35mcgs.
Solicitor Roger Lowther, mitigating, said the self-employed builder had an accident at work, breaking his finger, and went to hospital for treatment.
He had a bottle of whisky which he had bought for somebody else but, because of the pain he was in, he had a drink from the bottle while at the hospital.
Mr Lowther said: “It is believed the doctor who was treating Mr Parker had alerted the police.”
He said Parker drove home along country lanes and had another drink from the bottle because of the pain.
“Mr Parker is very embarrassed and ashamed about what he has done,” said Mr Lowther. “Such was the pain, he would have drunk anything to get rid of it.”
Parker, who appeared in court with his finger still strapped up, was banned from driving for a year, fined £400 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £40 victim surcharge.
Magistrates will allow him to cut three months off the ban if he completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.
He pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.