A 60-year-old Silsden man told magistrates he tried his best but was unable to provide a urine sample after being arrested for being drunk in charge of a car.

But Derrick Dennis Bower was found guilty by Skipton magistrates who heard he had been given a cup of tea by police and left for an hour, but had still not been able to provide a specimen.

Bower had been found by police in a parked car outside Hellifield Primary School at around 4.15pm on March 26 with the keys in the ignition and a half pint glass, believed to contain brandy and coke, in his hand, the court heard.

He provided a positive roadside breath test and was taken to the police station where a second test revealed he had 45 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Because the reading was borderline, the legal limit for driving is 35, he was asked to provide a urine sample by police.

PC David Riddler told the court that every effort had been made to get a sample from Bower, that he had been given a cup of tea and could have requested numerous drinks.

He said Bower had been put into a dry cell and had appeared to try to provide a specimen, but after the allotted hour, had been unable to do so and had been charged with failing to provide.

Bower, originally of Hellifield and now of Gloucester Avenue, Silsden, told the court he could not urinate on command.

“I offered to give blood, but the officer said he could not get the doctor in time. I tried, but I just couldn’t do it on command, I just didn’t want to go,” he said. “Even when I was waiting for the officer to take me home to Hellifield I couldn’t go.”

Magistrates told Bower that they believed he had wilfully refused to give a specimen and endorsed his licence with ten penalty points, fined him £100 and ordered him to pay a £20 victim surcharge and £100 in costs.