Former Premier League footballer Clarke Carlisle has been banned for three years and ordered to do 150 hours' unpaid community work after being found guilty of drink-driving.
Carlisle nearly crashed into a delivery lorry on December 20, just two days before he jumped into the path of a 12-ton truck on the A64 near York, Highbury Magistrates' Court in north London was told.
District judge Susan Williams told Carlisle that, although he had made a "positive contribution" in the world of others in football, she had to sentence him for the risk he had created in driving "erratically".
She told Carlisle that "if you are not in control of your vehicle in a road in central London you represent a danger to people".
Carlisle was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months, his licence was endorsed and he was given a three-year ban. He was also ordered to pay a £60 surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.
The former Professional Footballers' Association chairman, who played for Burnley, QPR, Leeds and Northampton, admitted failing to provide a sample.
Carlisle has also previously pleaded guilty to a charge of driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence on the same date, when police officers spotted him driving a Mercedes in an ''erratic'' manner, the court heard.
Carlisle had been spotted by police swerving his Mercedes and nearly hitting a lorry in Pentonville Road in Islington, north London, at about 7am.
He was involved in excess drinking offences in 1999 and 2011, the court heard.
He was arrested and refused to give a sample. He allowed the matter to "escalate out of all control" and, instead of taking the breath test, he "unfortunately" believed he had the right to see a lawyer, according to Lisa Judge, defending.
Miss Judge said Carlisle, 35, had now seen the error of his ways.
She described the arrest, just two days before he attempted suicide, as having happened while he was " in an extremely dark place in terms of his own life".
Carlisle is now so sorry about what happened that the court-ordered medical report on him "utterly oozes remorse", Miss Judge claimed.
Source: PA
