LAW student Robert Jackson failed in his attempt to keep his licence after admitting driving while over more than twice the legal alcohol limit.

Jackson, 20, of Greenfield Road, Devizes, claimed his drinks had been spiked during a night out when he appeared before Kennet magistrates sitting in Devizes last Thursday.

Cedric Allen, prosecuting, told the court that two officers had been called to the scene of a single-vehicle accident on the B3098 between Erlestoke and Bratton at about 1am on September 29 this year.

They found a blue BMW saloon that had crashed into the verge at the side of the road. A young woman was standing by the car and she was reported as saying, 'Oh, he's going to get done for drink driving'.

They found Jackson at the wheel of the car. He smelt strongly of alcohol and his speech was slurred. He failed a roadside breath test and at Chippenham police station he recorded readings of 89 and 97 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath on the intoximeter. Although only the lower reading counts in court, the legal limit is 35.

But in an interview the following day, Jackson told the police that he believed his drink had been spiked and that he had probably driven off because he was scared, after, he alleged, he was punched in the stomach by one of the doormen at the club they had gone to.

Giving evidence on his own behalf, Jackson told the court that he had never intended to drive that night. He was going to take a bus with friends to Reflections night spot in Westbury but, at the last moment, a female friend of his from Bath had phoned and told him she was feeling down, so he invited her along. Unfortunately, she arrived too late for the bus so Jackson got permission from his parents to drive his mother's car, meaning to leave it in the car park at the club and take the bus back to Devizes.

He said the two of them had consumed a bottle and a half of wine while sitting in the car outside the club, most of which he had drunk himself. Inside, he bought a bottle of alcopops which he shared with his friend. They left their glasses down while they had a dance, collecting them later and drinking the contents.

He said he felt strange and lost all memory of what happened afterwards, except for misty recollections of arguing with one of the doormen and being punched in the stomach.

He had no recollection of driving or being arrested. He woke up in a cell at Chippenham police station.

His solicitor, Richard Tutt, said his client was claiming that, although he agreed he was not in a fit state to drive that night, he took the wheel while under the influence of a substance put into his drink and was not responsible for his actions. No medical evidence was produced to support this claim.

Under cross-examination by Mr Allen, Jackson denied he was using the legal knowledge he had acquired during the three years of the law course he is studying at Sussex University to try to avoid being disqualified.

The magistrates turned down his claim to be exempted from the mandatory driving ban. They banned him for 28 months, although he took up the offer of an alcohol-impaired driver's course which, if he completes it in the statutory time, will reduce the ban to 21 months.

He was fined £150 with £83 court costs.