A NAVAL serviceman who was three times the drink drive limit when he was found sat in the driver’s seat of his car parked at a right angle near a busy roundabout in Ilminster has appeared in court.

Simulator instructor Robert James Montieth spoke with slurred speech and had no idea why he was there or how he had got there.

But when he appeared before Somerset Magistrates at Yeovil he admitted a charge of being in charge of a vehicle after consuming excess alcohol.

The court heard the 41-year-old, of RNAS Yeovilton, had a previous conviction for drink driving in 2012.

Prosecutor Emma Lenanton said police were on the A303 when they saw a vehicle parked on the nearside of the Southfields Roundabout.

“As they approached it there was one occupant inside, Montieth, who was sat in the driver’s seat and the engine was still running,” she said.

“When they spoke to the defendant his speech was extremely slurred and he did not know why he was there or how he had got there, and did not even know if it was his car,” she said.

When asked if he had been drinking he said yes, and when asked if he had driven there he said he didn’t know but said it was “probably me."

He was arrested and following a breath test at the police station he produced a reading of 105mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

The legal limit is 35mcg of alcohol.

Montieth told the magistrates that this incident had brought to life a massive issue in his life after he began drinking following a devastating personal revelation.

“I started to self-medicate with drink and was drinking about two or three bottles of vodka a week along with wine and cider and managed to hide it from everyone,” he said.

“That day I had an argument with someone at work and bought a bottle of vodka and downed it in one.

“I had absolutely no intention of driving the car that day… and I have no recollection of getting into the vehicle.”

Montieth was disqualified from driving for three months and fined him £750 with £85 costs and a £75 victim surcharge.