Former Coronation Street actor Charles Lawson has lost his licence for two years after admitting drink-driving. Charles, 47, who played boozy Irishman Jim McDonald in the soap opera, was more than three times the legal limit when stopped in a Scottish coastal town last month, a court official said. It is understood he had been drinking in a pub near his father's home at the time of the offence on January 28 in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway. Sheriff James Smith disqualified the actor for two years and fined him £750. Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court heard he had an alcohol count of 113mg when breathalysed, compared with a legal limit of 35mg. The Enniskillen-born actor appeared in more than 1,000 episodes of the ITV1 soap before his fiery character was sent to jail for killing a drug dealer in 2000. Last month, another Coronation Street actor, Simon Gregson, who plays the actor's on-screen son, was also found guilty of drink-driving. Simon, who plays Rovers Return landlord Steve McDonald, was banned from driving for 16 months and fined £3,000 for being nearly twice the legal limit while behind the wheel of his Jaguar XKR in Prestbury, Cheshire, in May 2005. He is planning an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
