A teenage biker has been hit with what is believed to be the quickest driving ban ever recorded after being caught over the drink-drive limit - just one day after he passed his test.

Engineering apprentice Jason Richards said yesterday that he was “a bit gutted” and felt stupid for not realising he was over the limit, three hours after having three pints at lunchtime.

The 18-year-old passed his motorbike test last Friday after a six-hour course paid for by his mother Sue, a book printer at Clowes in Beccles.

But the next day he was pulled over by police while carrying a pillion passenger and had 44 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35.

He said: “If I had known I was over the limit I would never have done it. I am a bit gutted really. I had only had my licence 28 hours.”

Suffolk police said they could not remember anyone else being caught so soon after passing their test and warned other young drivers of the dangers of drinking and driving.

Richards, of Queen Elizabeth Drive, Beccles, had been drinking in the Gillingham Swan at lunchtime with his boss at Beccles-based Harleston Engineering. After three pints of lager he thought he would be fit to drive again by 5pm.

Instead he was banned from the roads for a year, reduced to nine months if he takes part in a drink-driver rehabilitation course, after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday at Lowestoft Magistrates' Court. He was also fined £100 and ordered to pay £60 costs.

Chairman of the bench Tim Finch told him: “I think you've realised how stupid you have been.”

The motorbike fanatic had already bought a £600 Suzuki Bandit 400 to replace his Honda H100 moped once he passed his test.

But now he plans to sell it because even when he can drive again the insurance will be too expensive.

He will also have to get the bus to Lowestoft College, where he is studying welding and engineering.

He added yesterday that the police did not tell him not to get back on his motorbike to drive home and he could even have been stopped for drink-driving a second time.

Sgt Steve Knight, of the Halesworth road policing unit in Suffolk, said yesterday: “This is the quickest I have known someone to be caught after passing their test and it sends a strong message that, regardless of your age and experience, you will be prosecuted when you are drinking and driving.”

Richards is not the only teenager to be caught drink-driving just hours after taking his test. Earlier this week 19-year-old Allan Graham was banned from driving by magistrates in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, after he was pulled over 38 hours after he threw away his L-plates. He was nearly twice the legal drink-drive limit and was banned for a year.

A friend showed the newspaper coverage of the case to Richards, who said: “I have beaten him by 10 hours.”

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