A driver has been banned from the roads for 18 months after being caught by York police when almost twice over the legal limit.

Kenneth Cooper, of Fulford, was arrested on June 7 after a member of the public contacted police to report that he had been drinking in a local pub and was about to drive home.

Officers stopped his vehicle in Fordlands Road and he was arrested when he provided a positive breath test of 68 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

He was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £85 costs when he appeared in court on Wednesday.

He is one of 66 motorists suspected of drink-driving who have been arrested by police since the launch of a month-long crackdown on June 1.

Of these, 35 have subsequently been charged.

Offenders are being fast-tracked through the courts and some have already lost their licences.

Keith Standen, 61, from Ripon, was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £170 at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Wednesday. He was ordered to pay £85 in costs after being caught driving with 59 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Richard Brady, 42, from Harrogate, received a 20-month driving ban at Magistrates on Tuesday. Police stopped him in Asda car park, Bower Road, Harrogate, on Saturday, June 4, after reports that he appeared drunk before getting into his vehicle. He was breathalysed and recorded 77 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The court fined Brady £200 and ordered him to pay £85 costs.

Traffic Sergeant Ian Pope, of North Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, said: “Although what has been a successful campaign is coming to an end next week, there will be no let up in terms of targeting drink drivers and those who get behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs. One of the things that the campaign does is raise awareness that drink and drug driving is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”