Former King’s Lynn Town goalkeeper Alex Street has admitted drink-driving for a third time in nine years.

Lynn magistrates heard he had felt “pressured” into driving by a friend after they had been to a match.

The court was told that Street, 30, had lost his job as a construction worker as a result of the offence on November 27.

He was stopped on the A10 in West Winch at 11.20pm after police were tipped off about his driving of a Renault van.

Street failed a roadside breath test and was arrested. He later blew 56 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35.

The defendant, of Ecton Grove, Elm, near Wisbech, pleaded guilty to drink-driving.

The court was told that he had been banned from driving for 12 months in 2013 and three years in 2016 for the same offence.

George Sorrell, mitigating, said: “I want to persuade you that the defendant does not have an alcohol problem in terms of his life, except that he does have the problem of being before the court for a third time for an offence which carries a maximum imprisonment of six months.

“He’d been to a football match and was intending to leave the vehicle where it was. A friend that he was with asked him to give him a lift home and [Street] describes this as some pressure, as he found it difficult to refuse.”

The court was told that Street is due to get married in July.

“It’s a possibility that the wedding may have to be put off. It’s a cloud over the proceedings and a cloud over his life that he’s jobless,” said the solicitor.

Street was banned from driving for four years.

Magistrates refused to offer him a drink-driver rehabilitation course, which could have cut his ban, because he had completed and benefited from one twice before.

He was also ordered to do 180 hours’ unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order and pay £200 in costs and victim surcharge.

Street is the Linnets’ record appearance holder, having played 466 times over a 10-year period.

He left the National League club in October 2020, subsequently joining Bedford Town.

He played in a 3-0 league win at Didcot Town on the day of the offence.