Two schools will have to change their caretaker and charities will lose out by at least £6,000 because a motorist was caught driving at slightly over the drink drive limit, York Magistrates Court heard.

Paul Barraclough, 57, gave a reading of 88 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood when he was stopped on Bishopdyke Road in Cawood at 1.29am on May 3, Cathy Turnbull, prosecuting, said. The legal limit is 80.

Barraclough, who represented himself, told the court: “It has absolutely destroyed my own life. I am not going to blame anyone else for my mistake.”

School caretaker Barraclough, 57, of Duffield Crescent, Sherburn-in-Elmet, pleaded guilty to drink driving and was banned from driving for 12 months. He was fined £73 with £85 prosecution costs and a £20 statutory surcharge.

He said he had not eaten for 36 hours before he was stopped. He was recovering from a recent brain tumour and had been to St James’s Hospital in Leeds where he had had a litre of blood extracted.

Before driving, he had had two halves of lager and a glass of tonic water.

He raised money for charity, in particular for the Martin House Children’s Hospice, the Lions and for a brain tumour charity. “They are going to lose £6,000 at least in charity money that I would have raised,” he said.

He had been a disc jockey for 39 years. “I have never ever had a drink pass my lips,” he said.

The ban would cost him his job because he was a school caretaker and had the responsibility of opening up two schools before the start of the school day.