A HURLEY man caught drink driving with three young children in the passenger seats was attempting to bring home his drunken girlfriend, a court heard.

It was shortly after midnight on December 18, 2011 when Robert McRoberts received a phone call from colleagues of his partner detailing her "bizarre" drunken behaviour on a work's Christmas "do".

McRoberts, of Hawthorne Avenue, overheard her in the telephone conversation saying "get off me, leave me alone" and drove to collect her in Church Street, in Tamworth town centre.

It was here when police officers ordered 33-year-old McRoberts to carry out a roadside breath test.

He gave a positive reading of 45 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, exceeding the prescribed limit of 35mcg.

Due to the low reading, McRoberts was offered the option of providing a blood specimen for more a more accurate reading, but he declined.

He was arrested and appeared at Burton Magistrates' Court on Thursday, January 12, pleading guilty to the charge of drink driving.

For the prosecution, solicitor Giles Rowden, said: "The aggravating circumstance of this case is that his children were in the car."

Magistrates were told that McRoberts had been out of work for two years due to a medical condition and had been driving for ten years with a clean licence.

Solicitor John Walsh, for the defence, said: "It wasn't the erratic driving or the way Mr McRoberts was driving in any way which attracted the attention of the police, it was the bizarre conduct of his girlfriend which attracted their attention."

He added: "After hearing his girlfriend in the telephone conversation, he felt he must attend the situation but could not leave the children behind."

Mr Walsh also explained to magistrates that his client's home address was poorly served by public transport and he would be "substantially hampered" by a driving ban.

But magistrates banned McRoberts from driving for 12 months, though offered him the drink driver's awareness course which, if completed successfully, would see his ban cut by three months.

He was also fined £100, ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £15, which he agreed to pay within 28 days.