Football star banned from driving

Hendry sped through Lytham at speeds of 50 miles per hour in a 20mph limit.

Police followed his Ford Focus as it crossed double white lines as the 49-year-old father-of-four drove home.

Now the former Scottish captain and Premiership player must travel around on his bike, a court heard.

Hendry, of Coopers Row, Lytham, admitted drink driving on the town’s Church Road on February 21. He was almost twice over the legal limit after drinking in a Lytham cocktail bar.

His lawyer Gwyn Lewis told Blackpool Magistrates that Hendry’s current income was “meagre” and he asked for time for his client to pay fines and costs until he can start taking his pension in mid-May.

Mr Lewis said Hendry, who is out of work, no longer wished to persue a defence of “special reasons” as a forensic report revealed he would have been over the limit at the time he was breath tested and there was no evidence that his drinks had been spiked.

Peter Bardsley, prosecuting, said that a police officer in an umarked car saw Hendry drive at 1am pulling away from a junction at speed.

He followed Hendry who drove above a 20 mph limit and then a 30 mph limit sometimes as high as 50mph.

The officer pulled up Hendry’s car and smelled alcohol on him. He was arrested and a breath test revealed 63 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath – the limit is 35.

Mr Lewis said: “Mr Hendry is a fit man and regularly cycles. He has not drunk for seven weeks before he was arrested. He started what some people call a dry January following the death of his wife in 2009.

“However he was in an emotional state that day and he decided to take a drink. However he knows what he drank and still cannot accept the reading from the breath test.”

“His finances are to say the least complicated.H e was made bankrupt some years ago. His income is meagre until he can start taking his pension in mid-May.”

Chairman of the Bench Marilyn Padgett banned Hendry for 17 months. He was also offered a drink drivers’ rehabilitation scheme which will reduce his ban by one third if he completes it.

He was fined £110 and the magistrate said: “We have based this on the lowest level and it will be deferred for six weeks to allow you to start your pension.”

He was ordered to pay £200 court costs and £20 victims’ surcharge.