A man who was five times over the drink-drive limit when he hit two parked cars has lost his bid to work as a private hire driver.

Police Scotland objected to Chham Chhetri’s application for a private hire car driver’s licence due to an incident in 2014.

An officer told councillors the applicant had driven “without due care and attention” and “failed to stop and provide his details”.

They also heard how the conviction was “ordinarily spent”, but had been “deemed relevant” to the licensing committee.

The officer added Mr Chhetri, who did not declare the conviction on his application form, had been disqualified from driving for two years and fined a total of £500 after he was convicted of three charges.

He was found to have “consumed so much alcohol that the proportion of it in his breath was 110mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, exceeding the prescribed limit of 22mg of alcohol”, the committee heard.

Cllr Alex Wilson, SNP, who chairs the licensing committee, said: “Obviously this happened in 2014, which is a number of years ago, however it is still a serious nature, which is why Police Scotland have drawn this to our attention when looking to grant you a licence.

“Why did you not report this on your application form?”

Mr Chhetri didn’t answer why he hadn’t completed the form, however he claimed he had changed his lifestyle since the incident.

The applicant, who said he worked as a chef, said his private hire driver plan was “for my future” and he didn’t have a car ready to use.

Cllr Wilson said: “If we award you a licence today, you have to use it straightaway, you can’t just get your licence, put it in a drawer then use it in a year’s time.

“After three months of not using it, you have to hand it back.”

The committee decided to refuse his application.