A 64-YEAR-OLD man, who was cleared of drink-driving last year, faces a fresh trial.

A High Court judge in London last week overruled magistrates' findings that Derek Preston's basic legal rights had been ignored.

Mr Preston had been cleared in August after Macclesfield Magistrates ruled that he did not fully understand the police procedures after his arrest.

Crashed

Mr Preston, who is afflicted by manic depression, diabetes and chronic asthma, was never medically examined at the police station, despite having a blood sample taken for analysis by a doctor.

His lawyers claimed the police conduct amounted to a 'significant and substantial' breach of the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act, so rendering the blood sample inadmissible as evidence.

But last week Mr Justice Mitchell upheld the Crown Prosecution Service's appeal against the magistrates' decision to acquit Mr Preston.

"I have come to the conclusion that their decision to exclude evidence which could prove that he drove with excess alcohol in his blood was unreasonable," said the judge.

The case was sent back for re-hearing by a different bench of magistrates and, if Mr Preston is convicted, he will have to serve a compulsory driving ban.

Mr Preston, of Hall Lane, Mobberley, had been arrested at 4.30am on July 30 2000 after police spotted his car allegedly 'meandering' across the road in Wilmslow.

He had gone for a drive because his manic depression robbed him of sleep and driving helped to distract him, the court heard.

He was also in the grip of a debilitating asthma attack at the time, it was claimed. Mr Preston's car later crashed into a hedge, the High Court heard.