Rugby's Mike Tindall banned for drink-driving

LONDON (Reuters) - England rugby player Mike Tindall was banned from driving for three years and fined £500 on Thursday for his second drink-drive offence.

Police had pulled over the 30-year-old Gloucester centre on the M4 motorway in Berkshire on March 15 last year as he was on his way to Twickenham to commentate on England's Six Nations game against Ireland.

The day before, Tindall had been at the races in Cheltenham with long-term partner Zara Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne, where he had been drinking beer and champagne.

Reading Magistrates Court heard that police had spotted Tindall's Range Rover Sport being driven erratically at around 10:45 a.m. and apparently exceeding the 70 mph speed limit, the Press Association reported.

The car swerved across all three lanes into Reading Service Station where officers spoke to Tindall and smelt alcohol on his breath.

He said he had not drunk any alcohol since the night before, but was arrested and taken to Newbury police station where a blood test found him over the legal limit.

The court was told Tindall had drunk a Budweiser, a bottle of Becks and a Carling followed by seven glasses of champagne the previous evening.

He later went to a restaurant where he drank a further beer and a vodka and Red Bull, finishing drinking at around midnight.

At the time of the offence, Tindall was out of action with a torn liver, an injury suffered while playing against Wales which left him in intensive care for five days.