A former road safety chief has been fined £300 and hit with ten penalty points on his driving licence after admitting being in charge of a car with excess alcohol on his breath.

Councillor Colin Stout (Ind, Brighouse) had pleaded not guilty to the charge at an earlier hearing, but changed his plea to guilty at Calderdale Magistrates Court yesterday.

The court heard how 50-year-old Stout, of Finkil Street, Brighouse, was sitting in the driving seat of his Rover car when police spoke to him at 1.15am on October 25 last year.

Stout, a former vice chairman of Brighouse Road Safety Committee and chairman of the Crime Prevention Panel, was parked in a car park in Thornhill Beck Lane, Brighouse. There was also a female passenger with him.

Police spoke to Stout and smelled drink and believed the car had been running, as the engine was still warm.

Once he was breathalysed, police recorded 65mg and 68mg of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit for drink driving is 35mg.

Stout's solicitor, Malcolm Nowell, told the court that his client had been a councillor for three years and had been on various charitable bodies. He had assisted with public duties for more than 20 years.

He said Stout had been in the Martin's Nest pub in Brighouse to celebrate its refurbishment with the owner.

He told the court that as Stout returned to his vehicle, he had had to resolve a disturbance. He then began to feel unwell and returned to his car.

"Mr Stout wasn't driving," said Mr Nowell. "He was feeling unwell and needed some time to recover."

Mr Nowell said Stout had pleaded guilty because he did not have a statutory defence of not driving the vehicle when he was spoken to by police.

"While he hadn't formed an intention to drive the vehicle from that point, he can't say in all honesty that he would never have driven."

He had also resigned his road safety and crime prevention posts after being charged with the offence, Mr Nowell told the court.

The court heard that Stout, an HGV driver and HGV salesman for Reliance Garage in Brighouse, had held a clean driving licence for 35 years and had no previous convictions.

Magistrate Pauline Nash told Stout: "We consider that there were no aggravating features about this offence and its context is unfortunate in the circumstances outlined to the court in that you are a public figure."

He was fined £300 with £200 costs and his driving licence was endorsed with ten penalty points.