Dempster is a columnist for the Daily Mail

Mr Dempster, 61, of Ham Common, Surrey, was arrested on 3 February 2001 after his Honda car overturned after crashing into a lamp-post.

He had been watching a rugby match on television and had drunk a bottle of wine. He had then got into his car and driven off to pay his paper bill, the court had heard.

Mr Dempster was told he could cut his driving ban by 25% if he enrolled in a drink-drive rehabilitation course.

When police arrived at the crash scene they said Mr Dempster had "glazed eyes" and a police officer told the court the columnist's breath smelled of alcohol.

Mr Dempster had denied drinking alcohol, but then failed a breath test at the scene. He was then taken to Richmond police station for a blood test, which showed he was more than twice over the legal limit.

His lawyer, Robin Falvey, told the hearing that the columnist had not intended to drive.

'Severely impaired'

Mr Falvey said: "A dog had run out across the road and part of the cause of the accident was his attempts to actually avoid that dog."

He said the columnist had not drunk for nine months because of the shock of the incident.

District Judge Paul Clark told Mr Dempster: "I have no doubt at all that your ability to drive was severely impaired because of the amount you had had to drink.

"That is the only explanation that I can see for you turning your car over at this pedestrian crossing and blocking the road, necessitating the calling of the police."

Modifications

Mr Dempster and six other defendants had disputed the reliability and legal status of the equipment used to take the alcohol readings.

Lawyers for the seven defendants said that modifications had been made to the device used by police forces, without the manufacturer's changes being made with government approval.

The cases of Amanda Hicks, of north London; John Bowman, of Bucks and Abablhamid Zitoun, of Surrey were adjourned until 3 July to allow time for pre-sentence reports.

They all had higher blood-alcohol levels than the other defendants.

Hendrick Smit, of south-west London, William Antoine, of west London, and Leigh Moody of Twickenham were given driving bans and forced to pay fines.