A Royal Navy veteran awarded the meritorious service medal for more than 40 years’ service with three tours of Afghanistan had the ignominy of appearing in court this week charged with drink driving.

Timothy Taylor, aged 61, of Seneschall Park, Helston pleaded guilty to the offence when he appeared at Truro Magistrates’ Court on Monday (November 4).

Magistrates heard that members of the public reported Taylor to police on June 22 this year after he got into his car in the Helston Tesco car park and drove off when he was clearly drunk.

The police arrived and, looking at the Tesco CCTV, saw Taylor at the checkout unsteady on his feet and purchasing alcohol.

“Two members of the public and a security guard noticed the defendant appearing to be drunk and unsteady on his feet and with slurred speech,” said the prosecutor.

“He was seen to walk to his vehicle and then drive off out of the car park. Officers went to his address and found him sitting at home and arrested him.”

He was found to have 243 millilitres of alcohol in his blood, the legal limit being 80.

Taylor told the court that he went to do a bit of shopping at Tesco.

He said he had then left his car in the car park and gone into Helston where he bumped into an old friend from the navy who he hadn’t seen for 35 years. He said it was “quite a surprise” and they ended up doing a pub crawl.

He said he couldn’t recall much after that and the first thing he remembered  was the police turning up at his house to arrest him.

“I left my car in the Helston Tesco car park did a bit of shopping and then went into Helston,” he said. “I bumped into some mates and went on a pub crawl and then got behind the wheel of the car,” he said.

“Next thing I remember is three constables coming to my house and arresting me.”

The court heard that as a Chief Petty Officer, Taylor, of 771 NAS, had been given a prestigious Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) in the Queen’s New Year’s honours in 2016. He’d had a 40-year career with the Fleet Air Arm, having served a majority of it at Culdrose working on Sea Kings. He retired in 2018.

He had joined the Royal Navy in 1979 as a Junior Naval Air Mechanic and after his engineering trade training served at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset, on Wessex before moving to West Cornwall in 1982, where he joined 824 NAS and begun working on Sea Kings.

He serviced and maintained all the marks of the aircraft at Culdrose.

He has also clocked up 1,000 flying hours as a maintainer with flight testing, as well as serving as a ‘Watch Chief’ with 820 NAS (during both Gulf Wars), two tours of duty with 854 NAS in Afghanistan and many years on the Search and Rescue force with 771 NAS.

The court was told he had no real issues with alcohol and was full of regret and remorse for what he had done.

He was banned from driving for 25 months, fined £358, ordered to pay a £43 surcharge and costs of £85.