A motorist who was twice caught drink-driving within 90 minutes has been banned from driving for four years.

Richard Greensmith, of Kew Crescent, North Cheam, was spotted driving erratically by police at 2.30am on December 5 in Sutton Court Road, Sutton.

The 24-year-old forced another car to swerve out of his way and was beeped by another - something he denied in court.

He said: “I didn’t swerve into another car and I was beeped either. I don’t know where the prosecution has got that from. But everything else is totally my responsibility.”

Greensmith was breathalysed on the roadside and was found to have 85mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath - which is two-and-a-half-times the drink-drive limit.

He was taken to Sutton police station where he was charged with drink-driving and released within an hour.

The same officers who arrested him drove past Sutton Court Road again and saw Greensmith’s silver Rover had been moved.

A radio message was relayed to all the other police units in the area and within half-an-hour, at 4am, he was re-arrested in Kingston Avenue, North Cheam.

This time he was twice the drink-drive limit with a reading of 69mg per 100ml of breath.

The court heard Greensmith had committed a similar offence in August 2008.

Magistrate Patricia Cook, sitting at Sutton Magistrates’ Court, said: “This offence is so serious in so much that the second offence was committed one hour and 30 minutes after police deemed you unfit to drive.

“Because the two offences were committed so soon after one another we are increasing the disqualification length.”

Greensmith was banned for a total of 46 months and was asked to complete a 12-month community order, meaning he will have to return to court if he re-offends with that timeframe.

The defendant must pay a fine of £85 and after four years he can reapply to the DVLA for his new licence He also turned down the opportunity to take a Drink-Driving Rehabilitation Scheme which would have reduced his ban by a quarter - in this case by almost a year.