A YOUNG jockey who failed to persuade magistrates that he did not re-park his car while he was over the drink drive limit told them: “I’m finished.”

Reuben Smith, 18, told Carlisle’s Rickergate court the 14-month driving ban he was given for the offence in September last year would stop him doing his job, which involves travelling to race meetings all over the country.

The defendant, from Greystoke, near Penrith, denied drink driving.

But after a short trial, which heard what magistrates ruled had been “clear and credible” prosecution evidence from a police officer, Smith was found guilty.

Prosecutor George Shelley opened the case by questioning the police officer who arrested Smith, Constable Dan Grieves.

The officer outlined how he and a colleague had been in a patrol car in Penrith town centre on the evening of September 16 last year. They were parked in Middlegate, opposite the Spar store, he said.

Towards the end of the evening, they noticed a silver Peugeot 206 being reversed out of a parking space and then being re-parked a short distance away.

Once the car had stopped, the driver got out of the car. “Was there anybody else in the vehicle?” asked Mr Shelley.

The officer replied: “Not that I could see.” He noticed that the man who had left the car was stumbling. “I thought at the time that he was drunk,” said the officer.

As he approached the male, said Officer Grieves, the driver began running away.  The court was shown body-worn video footage that was recovered from the officer’s kit. In it, the defendant was heard initially accepting he had been drinking.

He also referred to “moving” the car before then denying driving the car that evening. A breath test confirmed that Smith had 53mcg of alcohol in his system.

The legal limit for driving is 35mcg.

The officer said he was "100 per cent" certain that the defendant was the person who got out of the car after moving it from one parking space to another.

Giving evidence for his defence, Smith said he had that evening been to the gym and then on to a pub called The Pinny and he was on his way to another pub, The Grey Goat, when he decided he needed to collect his keys from his parked Peugeot.

He said he had left those keys in the car’s ignition.

Smith told the court: “There was a boy in the vehicle called William. I don’t know who he was but he was in my car.” He said he had simply opened the car door, retrieved his keys and then set off to go to the pub.

Asked about the contradictions in his conversation with the police officer and his decision to run away, Smith said was panicking, adding: “I wasn’t driving that vehicle that night. I was drunk and I was panicking.

“You can tell from the way I was talking.” The stranger he found in his car, he said, was somebody he had talked to earlier in the pub.

Finding him guilty, the lead magistrate told Smith: “We found the police officer’s evidence to be clear and credible. Immediately after the vehicle was moved, you got out of the car and the officers’ view was unobstructed.

“They would have been able to see if any other male had been in the driver’s seat given their close proximity  of where they were parked. We are satisfied the officer was not mistaken.

"Your explanation is implausible.”

They fined the defendant £276, with costs of £620 and a £110 victim surcharge. They imposed a 14 month driving ban, but offered the rehabilitation course which, if completed by a deadline, will reduce the disqualification by 14 weeks.

The defendant said in reaction to that: “My boss has said to me not to go back with no licence. It’ll have a massive effect; I’m finished.”