A driver who was caught behind the wheel over seven times the legal drink limit was so inebriated that a sheriff told him he was surprised he could even find his car - let alone get in it.

Garry Barkhouse had drunk a bottle-and-a-half of neat vodka in one afternoon and when arrested he did not know what day of the week it was because of his level of intoxication.

Barkhouse was found guilty after trial last month of drink-driving.

On Friday he appeared for sentence, was banned for five years, and was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

Sheriff Craig Caldwell said to him: "I told you at the trial you should have been nowhere near a car. In fact given your level of alcohol, I'm surprised you could even find your car, let alone open it and get into it.

"You were seven times the legal limit for driving. That is a very serious offence, and but for your relative lack of previous offending, particularly for road traffic matters, you'd be going into custody today."

Sheriff Caldwell told Barkhouse the community payback order was a "direct alternative" to prison.

He said: "If you breach that order, or attempt to drive while disqualified, you'll come back here and be jailed."

Barkhouse, 48, was arrested at the wheel of his daughter's Vauxhall Astra in Bo'ness after a call from a concerned member of the public who phoned in to say they had seen a car being driven by a drunk.

Traffic policeman Paul James said he and a colleague went to the scene of the sighting, in Corbiehall, Bo'ness, and saw Barkhouse drive slowly towards them and park.

PC James, 47, said he reached in through the open driver's window and turned off the engine and the sound system, which was playing loud music.

He said it was "immediately apparent" that the driver was heavily under the influence.

He said: "He was kind of slumped, slurring his words, and smelling of alcohol.

"He was quite incoherent about where he was.

"I had to help him take get his seatbelt off. He was very unsteady on his feet and I had to physically conduct him to the rear of the police vehicle. At that point I noticed he had urinated himself.

"He told me he had fallen out with his partner and had been drinking heavily all weekend."

PC James's partner PC Gordon McCall, 48, added: "My colleague had to take hold of him under his arm and assist him to the patrol car because he was so unsteady.

"He said he had been out all weekend and he thought that Monday was still Sunday."

Barkhouse was taken to Falkirk Police Station and gave a breath sample that contained 157 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres, 7.13 times the legal limit, which is 22.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard the incident happened on September 21 last year at around 4.30pm.

Barkhouse, of Links Road, Bo'ness, who lives on disability benefits because of a "back injury", denied drink-driving.

He said he had been drinking at a friend's house nearby and had just got into the car to get some tobacco.

Finding him guilty, Sheriff Caldwell said he had to weigh up "two competing versions".

He said: "On the one hand I have the Crown case, from two sober and professional road policing officers with over 40 years experience between them.

"On the other hand I have an intoxicated, incoherent - and incontinent - individual who says he wasn't driving.

"I don't accept his evidence."

In addition to the unpaid work order and the driving ban, Barkhouse was placed under social work supervision for 12 months to get alcohol treatment and advice.

His solicitor, John Mulholland, conceded: "He seems to have an alcohol issue."