Driver drank five pints of lager, then wrote off new car
A YOUNG bank worker wrecked his brand new car after getting behind the wheel having drunk five pints of lager, a court heard.
Harry Williams, 22, wrote off his six-week-old Volkswagen Golf after smashing it into another car following a night out with pals.
He had left his vehicle at Littleborough station before getting the train into Manchester city centre.
On his return, Williams decided to drive home because he didn’t want to leave the car at the station overnight.
He claimed he was forced to swerve to avoid hitting an animal before the crash.
A police breath test showed he was nearly three times over the limit.
Now Williams has been ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work and has been banned from the road for 26 months after pleading guilty to drink- driving.
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard that the finance worker drank five pints of lager with ‘old friends’ before getting the train back to Littleborough on July 15.
But instead of then getting a taxi, Williams, who was ‘reluctant’ to leave his car, got behind the wheel.
The court heard Williams crashed into another vehicle on the A6033 Todmorden Road at around 10pm.
Prosecuting, David Morgan said: “His car ended up horizontal in the road.
“The defendant was unable to provide a breath sample at the scene and was taken into custody, where he provided a sample of 95 micrograms of alcohol.”
The legal drink-drive limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
Mitigating, Lindsay Brown said: “The defendant had been in Manchester centre with his parents. They had driven their vehicles to their local train station and caught the train into Manchester.
“He said he consumed five pints of lager while out and came back with his parents to Littleborough station.
“He and his parents went their separate ways and the defendant made the decision to drive his car the short distance home.
“An animal ran into the road and as he swerved to avoid it, the collision occurred.”
Ms Brown told the court that Williams’ six-week old vehicle has since been written off.
A probation service representative told the court Williams got ‘carried away’.
“He recognises an error of judgement and says if the animal didn’t run into the road the accident would have been avoided,” they added.
“He said he didn’t feel drunk at the time of driving.
“The defendant says he was reluctant to leave his vehicle near the station overnight as he had only owned the car for six weeks. “He said it was a ‘freak decision’.” Sentencing Williams to a community order, JP Tracy Kealy said: “You are a very lucky man to be standing here and that your parents were not identifying your body in a morgue.
“Hopefully you will never put yourself, or anybody else, in that position again.”
Williams, of Calderbrook Road, was also ordered to pay a fine of £170.