Drink-drive footballer sentenced

Shane White admitted he had made a mistake

A Championship footballer has been fined and banned from the road after he was caught drinking and driving.

Shane White, who was under contract with Plymouth Argyle, was stopped in the city last month.

The 18-year-old defender admitted the charge. He resigned from the football club on Wednesday.

Plymouth Magistrates' Court heard White, of Peverell Park Road, Plymouth, had drunk four or five pints of lager before deciding to move his car.

He was ordered to pay �158 in fines and costs and was given a one-year driving ban.

Admitted mistake

The court heard he had decided to move the vehicle in case it was clamped.

He failed a breath test after leaving the Barbican Leisure Park, a complex that contains a cinema, bars, restaurants and a nightclub.

Security staff called police after he was seen driving out of the complex without his lights on in the early hours of the morning on 20 January.

Geoff Parlby, reprsenting White, said his client had made a mistake but had done "the decent thing" and resigned from the club.

The player had come through the youth ranks at Plymouth Argyle and signed his first professional contract in the summer.

A club spokesman said: "The contract of first-year professional Shane White has been terminated.

"The club will be making no further comment on the subject."

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