Former City star Dietmar Hamann has won back his driving licence after being banned for being drunk at the wheel of his luxury car.

The German midfielder was given a 16-month ban by Trafford magistrates last month.

But the 36-year-old launched an appeal – represented by the firm of ‘loophole lawyer’ Nick Freeman – claiming the way his urine samples had been taken was flawed.

Now a judge at Manchester Crown Court has ruled the ban should be suspended until an appeal hearing in June.

Hamann’s defence argued the urine test wasn’t reliable because he hadn’t been given a chance to empty his bladder before giving a second sample.

The test showed that he had 187mg of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine – 80mg above the limit.

Jon Oultram, representing him, said it was possible he may have been found to be under the limit had the tests been carried out differently.

Judge Jonathan Foster the appeal was ‘unattractive and technical’ but he granted the application for the driving ban to be suspended.

Hamann played for Newcastle United and Liverpool before he joined Manchester City in 2006.

He was released by the club on July 1 last year and was stopped by police eleven days later on the M56 motorway.

He was found guilty of drink driving after a day-long trial at Trafford Magistrates Court.

The hearing was told that he had been unsteady on his feet and both ‘obstructive and abusive’ when arrested by police officers.

He was found to have been almost twice the drink-drive limit when he was stopped by police at junction six of the M56 near his home in Styal at 12.15am on July 12.

His luxury £60,000 Range Rover was said to have been ‘weaving’ on the motorway, and seen to clip a kerb three times.

The court heard that the vehicle also ‘lunged’ forward when he stopped abruptly at a red light.

Hamann, who had been for a meal at the Marriott Hotel near Hale Barns earlier in the night, said he had popped out to buy cigarettes when he was stopped.

He was ordered to pay £1,990 in fines and costs at the February hearing, in addition to being given the 16-month ban.