A TEACHING assistant has been banned from driving after downing four pints and crashing into a garden wall.

George Allen was found by police after the crash in East Sussex in October and tested positive for alcohol in his system.

The 23-year-old tennis coach appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court, where prosecutor Martina Sherlock said he had swerved in the road near the village of Frant.

He admitted drink-driving and was ordered to pay a £160 fine, along with £85 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

Magistrate John Paxman also banned Allen, of Wadhurst in East Sussex, for 17 months.

Allen was among hundreds of other defendants to appear in court for drink-driving.

Police launched Operation Dragonfly over the festive period, and made 240 arrests in one month.

Among them was 38-year-old chef Peter Takacs who was arrested in Bond Street in Brighton on December 16.

He was double the drink-driving limit with 70 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg per 100ml.

Takacs, of Clarke Avenue in Hove was banned for 22 months.

Landscape gardener Philip Helmore was stopped on the A272 at Scaynes Hill on December 15.

The 32-year-old of Sycamore Gardens in Burgess Hill tested positive for 91mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system.

At Crawley Magistrates' Court he was banned for 23 months and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay £85 court costs and a £85 victim surcharge.

Benjamin Misfud was stopped in North Parade in Horsham and was double the limit, with 70mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

The 25-year-old marketing employee, of Ellis Road in Broadbridge Heath, was banned for 18 months by magistrates at Crawley.

They ordered him to pay a £340 fine, £85 costs and a £34 victim surcharge.

19-year-old waiter Cameron Hutson, of High Street in Lewes, was stopped with 75mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. He was banned for 20 months and told to pay a £184 fine, £85 costs and £30 victim surcharge.