Mike Tindall has been banned from the road for three years after he was caught driving while over the alcohol limit on his way to commentate on an international rugby match.

The England centre had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Reading Magistrates’ Court, admitting that he had been on a binge the previous day.

Tindall, 30, who was also fined £500 and ordered to pay £75 costs, had attended the races at Cheltenham on March 14 with his long-term partner Zara Phillips. He drank three beers in the afternoon and seven glasses of champagne in the evening. He drank another beer and a vodka and Red Bull at a restaurant.

His blood alcohol level was still over the legal limit when he got into his Range Rover Sport the next day to drive to Twickenham, where he was to commentate on England’s Six Nations game against Ireland.

Police spotted Tindall, of Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire, who also plays for Gloucester, driving erratically on the M4 near Newbury, Berkshire. He swerved over three lanes before stopping at services at Reading.

Tindall issued a statement yesterday that said that he metabolised alcohol at an unusually low rate. “I have learnt that what you perceive to be a safe time to wait before one drives after drinking, particularly the following morning, can be totally wrong and I apologise for my actions,” he said. “As the court accepted, I was wholly unaware that my alcohol elimination rate is in the lowest 2 per cent of the population and, had that rate been normal, I would have been substantially under the limit.” He now knew that everyone was different, he said, and added: “I feel strongly that people need to be educated about this as I have been.”

The court was told that Tindall was arrested at the service station and taken to Newbury police station, where he gave a blood sample that recorded a level of 91mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 80mg.

Tindall had a previous conviction for drink-driving in 2000, for which he was disqualified for 16 months. At the time of the latest offence he was out of action with a bruised liver, an injury suffered while playing against Wales after which he had been in intensive care for five days.

The case had been delayed at previous hearings because his defence team sought to produce expert medical evidence regarding the effect of the injury on his liver function.

Mark Milliken-Smith, Tindall’s barrister, told the court yesterday that he would no longer be seeking to put any “special reasons” before the court. “He drove that day not knowing he had a low alcohol elimination rate and secondly, if he had a normal rate, he would have been well under the limit,” he said. “That position has changed because this alcohol elimination rate is particularly low and he will have to temper his life in future.”

Mr Milliken-Smith said that Tindall had been shocked and embarrassed by the result of his initial breath test. “That remains the position. He is extremely embarrassed to be before the court.”He said that Tindall would continue to participate in children’s rugby camps despite his disqualification.

Tindall, who will take a drink-drive rehabilitation course as part of his punishment, smiled as he left the court but refused to comment to waiting reporters.

After the case, the Crown Prosecution Service said that it would be claiming £2,000 in costs for two previous hearings in October and December last year where the defence had failed to provide its expert medical evidence.

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