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Everton's Darron Gibson avoids prison after drink-driving incident

Everton midfielder Darron Gibson has avoided a prison sentence after he hit three cyclists while drink-driving.

Gibson has been banned from driving for 20 months and given a 12-month community order, which requires him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

The 27-year-old was over the UK legal drink-drive limit when he was involved in an incident in Bowden, Cheshire, on Aug. 16.

His car mounted a pavement and struck three men who had stopped at the roadside to fix a broken bicycle chain.

The Republic of Ireland international drove away before pulling into a nearby petrol station, where his car hit a pump.

Police were called by a concerned garage attendant as Gibson, who was wearing no shoes, began filling his vehicle with fuel.

Officers told a hearing at Trafford Magistrates Court that they noticed Gibson's breath had an "obvious strong smell of alcohol." He and his vehicle were then identified by one of the cyclists.

Gibson was arrested and taken to a police station where he gave a positive reading of 57 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath -- above the legal limit of 35.

In court, Gibson pleaded to driving with excess alcohol, driving without due care and attention and failing to stop after an accident had occurred.

He was ordered to pay £4,500 for the damage caused to one of the bikes, £1,000 to the cyclist he directly hit and £100 each to the two other men.

The midfielder was also told to pay £295 in court costs.