A Welwyn Garden City man who threw a cup of coffee over a police officer after being arrested for drink-driving has been convicted in court.

Around 1pm on July 12, police on patrol in Grand Parade, Brighton, became aware of an argument involving a man and a woman in a Renault Megane.

The vehicle was stopped and the driver was required to undergo a roadside breath test, which he failed.

He was identified as Gregory Moran, a railway employee from Welwyn Garden City.

The 32-year-old was arrested and placed in the back of the police vehicle, at which point he picked up a cold cup of coffee from the centre console and threw it at one of the arresting officers.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with driving with 75mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system – the legal limit being 35mcg – assaulting an emergency worker and obstructing police in the execution of their duty.

At Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday September 3, Moran was convicted of all three offences.

He was disqualified from driving for 20 months, fined a total of £1,106, and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £110 victim surcharge.

Moran was among 83 motorists arrested during Surrey Police and Sussex Police’s summer crackdown on drink and drug-drivers, which ran from 29 June to 12 July.