A DRINK-DRIVER whose vehicle "clipped" a motorcyclist was hiding on a roof when the biker and police officers tracked him down.

Craig Darren Batters, who was more than three times the legal alcohol limit at the time, was jailed for three months by York magistrates.

Prosecutor David Tucker said that the collision between Batters, 29, and the biker on August 10 was the second time in seven weeks that the motorist broke the drink-driving laws.

On June 30, police found Batters "apparently in a drunken state" in the driver's seat of a car they had just seen go through a red light and driving erratically. Batters refused to give police samples of breath or blood on that occasion.

But on August 10 he did give a breath test, and the reading was 112 grams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Batters, of Don Avenue, Dringhouses, pleaded guilty to failure to provide a blood sample on June 30, drink-driving, and driving without insurance on August 10.

He had a previous conviction for failure to provide a blood or breath sample on March 12, 2001.

The magistrates jailed him for three months and banned him from driving for three years.

Mr Tucker said that Batters clipped the motorcycle as he went round a bend on Millgate, Selby, at about 6.30pm.

He fled the scene, but the motorcyclist gave pursuit and led police to where the driver was hiding on a nearby roof.

For Batters, Craig Robertson said he accepted he had a drink problem. He was attending sessions at an alcohol advisory service and his sister was helping him. Jail would cost him his job and accommodation.

Updated: 10:19 Tuesday, September 23, 2003