A GRANDAD on a mobility scooter was nearly four times the drink-drive limit when he was stopped by police – with a woman on his knee.

John Powell, who was riding along the pavement, said: "I was only doing four miles an hour at the time so I wasn’t going quickly but the police officer told me I’d been causing chaos when he pulled me over.

"How could I have been causing chaos on a mobility scooter at 4mph? It's walking speed."

Powell, 51, who admitted that he had ‘knocked back a rum or two and a couple of pints of bitter’ said: "The police over-reacted. I don’t regret it as I don't think I was doing anything wrong. You should be allowed to enjoy yourself."

His solicitor Angela Fitzpatrick, told Tameside magistrates: "The reason he had somebody else on his scooter was because she owed him some money and he wanted to be sure of getting it so he was taking her to the bank."

Powell, of Hawkshead Close, Stalybridge, was caught after a pedestrian alerted police. He gave a breath-alcohol reading of 138mg – the legal driving limit is 35mg – after being stopped in Mellor Road in the centre of the town.

Powell, a grandfather-of-two, was fined £50 after admitting drink driving. He wasn’t given driving ban as a licence is not needed for mobility scooter.

Chairman of the bench Brian Goodhand told Powell: "You should not be drinking and driving that motor vehicle."

Afterwards Powell, who has cirrhosis of the liver, told how his life has been wrecked by alcohol.

He said: "I started drinking at 14 and it spiralled from there. It cost me my first marriage and I am now in poor health."

Stepson Lee Walker, 26, said: "He didn’t cause any harm, they could have just ticked him off."