A POOLE Hospital consultant has been banned from the roads for drink driving.

Dr Simon Bell's alcohol reading was more than twice the legal limit when he was breath-tested by police last month.

Police were called when Dr Bell was seen to be driving erratically on the Wessex Way on May 2.

When officers arrived at his Queens Park home they discovered his white Audi A5 had suffered recent damage and he was also charged with failing to stop after an accident.

Dr Bell, 46, of Parkway Drive pleaded guilty to driving with an alcohol level of 80 in his breath - the legal limit is 35 - when he appeared before Bournemouth magistrates on May 28.

He also admitted being the driver of a car involved in a collision in Parkway Drive, causing damage to a Vauxhall Astra, on the same date.

He was banned from driving for 20 months, fined a total of £1,170, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £70, costs of £85 and a criminal courts charge of £150.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service told the Daily Echo: "Police were informed by two witnesses that a man was driving in an erratic manner on May 2 at about 6.21pm on the A338, Wessex Way Bournemouth.

"The registration plate of the car was given to the police, and subsequently they attended the defendant’s home. At their arrival, they noticed that his car a white Audi A5 had been recently damaged and that he was intoxicated, he was then arrested."

Dr Bell is employed as a consultant in emergency medicine at Poole but told the Daily Echo he has been off sick for several months.

Poole Hospital's website says he has been a consultant there since 2003 and has held several management posts including chair of the audit committee.

It says other responsibilities include the post of lead examiner for the College of Emergency Medicine and regional chair of emergency medicine at St Georges International School of Medicine, in Grenada.

When contacted about the court appearance by the Daily Echo, Dr Bell said: "What happened previously has been and gone and all governing bodies were completely satisfied.

"I have moved on since then and I have moved address. It was a misdemeanour that came and went - it was just one of those things.

"I am not working at the moment and have not been working for the last nine months. I was not working there when the misdemeanour occurred.

"I am still on the payroll there but I have been off with ill health and have not been seeing patients since September 2014."

A spokesman for Poole Hospital said: "As an employer, we have a duty of confidentiality to staff and therefore it would not be appropriate to comment.”