A RECOVERING alcoholic who drove uninsured from Hertfordshire to the Isle of Wight during lockdown to see his sick father, was caught drink-driving while more than four times the limit.

A passenger on board Red Funnel's Southampton to East Cowes car ferry spotted Jason Malcolm White get into his car as it reached the Island and called the police, believing he had been drinking, said Liz Miller, prosecuting, at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court.

Police followed White, of Welwyn Garden City — eventually stopping him along Briddlesford Road, near Robin Hill, on February 1.

White, 39, blew an alcohol reading of 120 microgrammes on the roadside, but his second reading at Newport Police Station was 147. The legal limit is 35.

The bench was told White's record included three previous drink-driving offences — his most recent being in 2016 — and another of being drunk in charge of a vehicle.

White, who admitted drink driving and driving while uninsured, claimed he drove to the Island after he had received a tearful call from his mother, who said she needed his support after learning his father had cancer, explained Oscar Vincent, in mitigation.

White, an unemployed warehouse worker, relapsed into alcoholism the day before he travelled to the Island, the court was also told.

The bench handed White an interim disqualification and bailed him for sentencing at St Albans Magistrates' Court on April 20.