A £60,000-a-year recruitment officer told Manchester and Salford magistrates that being convicted for drink-driving would probably cost him his job.

Adam Dickinson, aged 31, was stopped in Cheetham because of the way he was driving just before midnight on January 16.

On getting out of his car he was “swaying about”, claimed Humayun Khan, prosecuting.

Dickinson, of Jackson Street, Whitefield, was fined £800 and disqualified for a year. He admitted driving while one-and-a-half times over the limit.

In court he said: “I am ashamed. I had people in the car – this will probably cost me my job."

Dickinson was ordered to pay costs of £85 and an £80 surcharge.