Rugby Union: Gibbs' heavy fine and two-year ban for drink-driving

SCOTT GIBBS, the 22-year-old Swansea centre who leaves with the Lions for the tour of New Zealand next week, was yesterday fined pounds 2,160 and banned from driving for two years after he admitted drink-driving, taking a vehicle without consent and driving without insurance.

Magistrates in Bridgend heard Gibbs was more than twice the permitted limit for alcohol when he and fellow players Matthew Brown and Paul Jones sped through a town centre at up to 60mph.

They were arrested later by a police dog handler - ironically Steve Sutton, the former Welsh international. Gibbs and his companions had called for a taxi but took the car while the cabbie was looking for them in a kebab house. Brown, 23, who plays for Maesteg, and Jones, 22, a Bridgend player, were fined pounds 740. Gibbs said: 'The fine was very high but I just wanted to clear the whole thing up and get on with my game.'