DRINK-drivers received nearly £2,000 worth of fines in a single day of sentencing at Bournemouth Magistrates' Court.

The five defendants, who were also banned from driving for a combined total of more than seven years, were all arrested during a Christmas crackdown by Dorset Police.

Among them, Lee Haines, of Wroxham Road, Poole, was fined £500 after his conviction for drink driving in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, on December 6. The 47-year-old was disqualified for 12 months.

Martin Tisley, 46, of Marline Road, Poole, was fined £545 with a 16 month ban after being caught driving near his home address on December 5 at nearly double the drink drive limit.

Darren Read, 51, of Chigwell Road, Bournemouth, was fined £350 and disqualified for 12 months for drink driving in Castle Lane West, Bournemouth, on December 8.

Further afield, David Rann was more than double the drink drive limit when he was caught by police in a Mercedes in Lions Lane, Ashley Heath, on December 9.

The 28-year-old, of Woolsbridge Road, St Leonards, was fined £420 and disqualified for three years.

Finally Corfe Mullen resident Geoffrey Porteous, 64, was fined £160 and disqualified for a year for drink driving near his home in Highmoor Close on December 8.

Further drivers lost their licences after being caught up in the crackdown elsewhere in the county.

Paul Humphries, 25, of Coletates Close, Faversham, received a one year community order with 100 hours unpaid work for driving a Ford Transit van in Woodlands Drive, Sandford, while more than twice the drink drive limit on December 14.

He was disqualified for two years.

Alexander Albin, of Greenhill, Weymouth, refused to provide a specimen for police after being stopped in Lynch Lane on Boxing Day.

Weymouth Magistrates Court heard the 22-year-old was “red eyed” and “smelled very strongly of alcohol”.

The court heard Albin, who was fined £200 and disqualified for 14 months, had been out drinking but thought he would be ok to drive.

Frederick Taylor, 64, was fined £110 and banned for 18 months by Weymouth magistrates for the same offence.

Notified by a tip-off, police arrested Taylor at his home in St Andrews Road, Bridport, on December 28. He gave a positive reading at the scene and admitted drink driving, but later failed to provide a second sample.

The court heard he had driven between his home and a pub just over a mile away.

All the above defendants entered guilty pleas.

They had to pay the prosecution costs and the victim surcharge in addition to their fines.