A man currently living in his van has narrowly avoided having his home taken away from him after pleading guilty to being in charge of a vehicle whilst over the legal alcohol limit.

Police received a call just before midnight on October 17 that a drunk man had been seen driving his van in Johnston, near Haverfordwest.

When officers arrived, they discovered a Ford Connect van parked in somebody’s private driveway. Bernard Lee Davies, 51, was fast asleep in the passenger seat.

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“He had to be woken up and smelt strongly of alcohol,” Crown Prosecutor Kelly Rivers told Haverfordwest magistrates earlier this week.

“When they asked him where he was, he said ‘I’m outside someone’s house but I haven’t got a clue who’s it is.”

Davies was subsequently taken to Haverfordwest police station where he gave a breath test reading of 62 mcg. The legal limit is 35.

But his solicitor, David Griffiths, said that for the past three months, his client has been living in his van as he struggles to cope with a memory ‘that’s been suppressed in the deepest, darkest corners of his mind’.

“He’s currently suffering badly with mental health issues including PTSD from experiences which he suffered as a child,” he said.

“It’s a memory that’s been suppressed in the deepest, darkest corners of his mind, but he’s now confronting it with therapy, through MIND.

“He’s now on the waiting list for housing but as a single man with no dependents, his scoring in terms of need is a low one.”

Mr Griffiths explained that Lee Davies is unable to sleep in the back of the van as a result of his height, which is 6’ 2”.

“The van was parked up and he was asleep in the passenger seat because this is the only seat in which he can fit.

“Whoever said he had been driving that night was either woefully mistaken or was not being truthful.”

The defendant works as a self-employed builder, and David Griffiths confirmed that this is currently proving therapeutic to his client’s mental health.

“This is a man who’s going through a lot,” he concluded.

“He’s not sitting back and asking the court to be sympathetic, but is doing a lot about it. However his van, at the moment, is his home.”

After listening to the evidence, magistrates agreed not to impose a driving disqualification on the defendant. Instead his licence was endorsed with ten penalty points. He was fined £80 and was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £32 court surcharge.