Ryan Davies was well above the alcohol limit when he crashed his Mercedes in Wales

A mayor has stood down after crashing into a cyclist while more than double the alcohol limit. Ryan Davies, who led a town council in Shropshire, was driving in Powys when his car collided with a cyclist who suffered minor injuries.

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The 44-year-old mayor of Clun with Chapel Lawn was behind the wheel of a Mercedes at 10.30pm on May 24 last year when the accident happened in Rookery Lane near the market town of Knighton, Powys. Tests showed he had 183mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood – far above the legal limit of 80mg.

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Davies, who lives a short distance away in Cleobury Lane, initially pleaded not guilty to drink-driving and a trial was set for last November at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates’ Court. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter.

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But he changed his plea to guilty that month and was ordered to pay £3,017 as well as being banned from driving for 20 months.

Now, in a social media statement announcing his resignation, Davies said the mayoral role – which he held for four years – took a toll on his personal and professional life.

“The last 12 months have personally been a struggle,” he wrote. “Taking on the position for another term after three years was perhaps a distraction I thought I needed with the sale of the family family farm going on and other personal issues going on behind the scenes – I didn’t realise the extra weight it was putting on my shoulders.

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“The role has changed my perception of what goes on in the community. A lot of people doing as much as they can for their community and I can’t praise them enough. Every official that I’ve hosted visits for all make the comment: ‘What an amazing place to be.’”

Davies went on to say that the deaths of his mother and grandfather had affected his health.

“I’ve got a professional job which has suffered due to my commitment to the community and supporting my family – a higher priority than that,” he wrote.

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“Therefore, with a heavy heart, I’ve decided to stand down with immediate effect. This decision was very tough as I’ve had such an amazing few years and the support you’ve all shown has been totally overwhelming. But I feel this is the right decision.

“Clun’s an amazing place, social media is not. And those who troll and make unsubstantiated comments need to realise they are stopping others from taking on public roles. Which is sad and quite frankly dangerous to the communities they’ve moved to and don’t really understand.”

On December 2 the town council held a meeting which Davies did not attend and was instead chaired by deputy mayor Monika Jones.

Davies’ position was raised at the start of the meeting. Town clerk Gwilliam Rippon said it was a code of conduct matter that would be dealt with by the monitoring officer.

The next town council meeting was scheduled for January 7 but was cancelled because of bad weather.