A driver seen stumbling from a car in Spalding’s Winsover Road had the keys taken from him by a member of the public.
Allan Wilson (58) was later found to be more than twice the alcohol limit.
At Boston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, he was disqualified from driving for 18 months and fined £120.
The offence happened at about 7pm on May 21.
Prosecutor Paul Wood said: “A member of the public saw the defendant driving, park up there and stagger away.
“They were concerned enough to approach Mr Wilson and take the keys from him.
“Police were called. The defendant accepted that he had drunk and driven to a relative’s house.”
In custody Wilson, who gave the relative’s address as a correspondence address for him, blew 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
He pleaded guilty to drink driving.
Phillipa Chatterton, mitigating, said Wilson had been honest with police who hadn’t seen him driving.
She said her client did have a conviction for a similar matter but it was more than 20 years ago and had happened after the death of his 14-year-old son in an accident.
She said of the latest offence: “He lost his accommodation through no fault of his own and took to drink as a way of coping.
“He was offered the chance of a Sunday lunch and time with family and took it.
“He’s devastated to be before the court.”
Miss Chatterton said Wilson lives in a caravan five miles outside Spalding and would lose his work as a self-employed landscape gardener as a result of the mandatory ban.
His disqualification can be reduced by 18 weeks with completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.
He was also fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £48 victim surcharge.
