A MAN caught drink-driving at a shopping centre car park told arresting police officers, ‘I’ve been drinking, I’m over the limit, let’s get it done with’.

Richard Burnett, 37, had been spotted by officers in an MGZS SUV at Caerphilly’s Castle View Shopping Centre.

Police had been called on the night of Saturday, December 10 to investigate “anti-social driving” at the Travelodge hotel car park near the town centre.

They found no evidence of any such offence there but they became suspicious after spotting Burnett at the nearby Castle View Shopping Centre.

“Officers saw a group of people acting in an unusual way there,” prosecutor Kevin Withey told Newport Magistrates’ Court.

“When the defendant was pulled over a short distance later, he told them, ‘I have been drinking, I’m over the limit, let’s get it done with.’”

Burnett, of St Cenydd, Trecenydd, Caerphilly, pleaded guilty to being twice the drink-driving limit with 86 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The court was told he had a previous conviction dating back to 2016.

“He admitted the offence at the scene,” Burnett’s lawyer Darren Bishop said.

“The defendant accepts that he’s made a foolish mistake.”

Mr Bishop added that his client, a sub-contracted builder, now faced the prospect of losing his job.

Presiding justice John Jones told Burnett: “You have a relevant previous conviction and you gave a reading that was substantially high.”

The defendant was banned from driving for three years and six months.

He was also fined £300 and ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs as well as a £120 victim surcharge.