A 33-year-old man was homeless and sleeping in his Porsche after his motor business collapsed, magistrates heard.

Iain Thomas Dickson-Smith admitted being just over the legal drink-drive limit when he drove only a short distance to get cigarettes after a pub lunch.

At the time of the offence Dickson-Smith was living in a cottage at Copyhold Lane in Winterborne Abbas. He had been stopped by police conducting speed checks in the village just after 9.30 pm.

Officers had smelled drink on his breath and a blood test showed he was a fraction over the legal limit of 80mcg.

He told magistrates he was now homeless and that his only contact address would be with his mother who lived at a block of flats in Rodwell Avenue in Weymouth.

Simon Brimacombe, defending, told the court that Dickson-Smith had been homeless and sleeping in his car. He added: "This was a very low reading and he asks you to accept that he in no way felt that he was over the legal limit at the time he was driving."

He said Dickson-Smith had walked from his then home to have a late lunch around 4 pm at a local carvery where he had downed two pints of stronger-than-usual lager.

After walking back home he'd slept for a while and then had a bottle of another premium lager before deciding to drive about 160 yards through the village to get cigarettes.

He said: "Had he been even remotely aware that he might have been near the legal limit he would have walked. It would have been no great inconvenience to him whatsoever."

He said Dickson-Smith had at that time been running his own business doing up cars - with finance including a Prince's Trust grant which now would have to be repaid.

Mr Brimacombe said: "Due to debts and various items going missing - gearboxes and engines being stolen at night - the continuation of the business was not a viable option and it had to close."

He said Dickson-Smith was on incapacity benefit due to depression. Magistrates imposed a one-year ban.