A DISGRACED pharmacist who lost control of his car while almost three times the drink-drive limit will not lose his career.

Michael Murray, 55, faced being struck off after drinking half a bottle of vodka and two beers before deciding to give his daughter a lift to work.

The pharmacist careered off the road just five miles into the journey, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society heard.

But yesterday the panel ruled that no further action should be taken after hearing how Murray had completed a drink-driving rehabilitation course and passed a medical screening test set by the DVLA.

Murray, of Thornhill, Chacombe, near Banbury, qualified in 1974 and worked as an industrial pharmacist.

No one was injured in the road traffic accident on the B4525 in Oxfordshire, on January 15 last year but Murray's Citroen Saxo was badly damaged.

He was found to have 101mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, almost three times the limit. He went on to plead guilty at Towcester Magistrates Court and was fined £750 and ordered to pay £55 costs, disqualified from driving for 28 months and ordered to attend a drink-driving rehabilitation course.