A COACH driver was nearly four times the drink-drive limit when he ploughed into the gates of a Southampton school.

Desmond Kelly had been driving a special “interactive careers coach” when he crashed it into railings at Upper Shirley High School.

The impact left the metal gates at a 30-degree angle, Southampton Magistrates Court was told.

Emergency services were called after staff described Kelly as being “intoxicated with alcohol”.

Fifty-four-year-old Kelly was later arrested after failing a breathalyser test. He then fell ill and was taken to Southampton General Hospital, magistrates were told.

Subsequent blood tests at Southampton General Hospital later showed that he had 300 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal limit is 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

Daily Echo:

The damage to the school gates

The crash happened at 7.30am on a school day in December when Kelly was taking the coach to the Bellemoor Road school for a career’s day. No one was injured.

Prosecutor Rachel Standish described the incident as a “most serious offence” and said there was a “high degree of probability for a high degree of harm”.

Representing Kelly, from Lakeside Holiday Village, Chichester, Michael McGoldrich, said because the defendant suffered from a variety of illnesses including liver cirrhosis and was awaiting a liver transplant his body wasn’t able to digest the alcohol at a normal speed.

He said: “This is someone who’s drunk in relative moderation the previous evening and left himself a sufficient amount of time but unfortunately due to his illness that timeline wasn’t enough.”

Mr McGoldrich added that Kelly recognised that he had a problem.

Kelly had previously admitted drink-driving but that his early plea didn’t stop him getting a custodial sentence.

Handing down a 12-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, magistrate Trevor Vidler described it as a “totally serious situation”.

He said: “It’s so serious that we feel the custody threshold has been passed.”

But he said that having heard evidence of Kelly’s health and his previous good character he felt able to suspend the sentence.

Kelly was disqualified from driving for 36 months.

Kelly, who was shaking throughout the hearing, said: “I’m so sorry, I will never get in a vehicle again”.

He was also fined a total of £165 for court costs and an £80 victim surcharge.