A DARLINGTON man who crashed into his neighbour’s car whilst driving at nearly three times the drink drive limit has been banned from the roads.

Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday (May 5) that Mark Greenall drank five cans of lager in his car before driving home from the shop he had bought them from.

He crashed into a neighbour’s car and abandoned his vehicle outside his Park Crescent home, leaving the car door wide open and the keys in the ignition.

Prosecuting, Joanne Hesse said that when police arrived they described 44-year-old Greenall as being very unsteady on his feet, with glassy eyes and slurred speech.

A breath test revealed he had 99mg of alcohol in his system and he pleaded guilty to drink driving in court.

Magistrates stood the case down for a report and later heard from the probation service that Greenall, a site labourer, had lost both his parents in recent years and sometimes drank to deal with his grief.

However, the probation service did not think his drinking was a serious problem and instead recommended that he resume the bereavement counselling that he had started four-years-ago.

Magistrates banned him from driving for two years and ordered him to pay a total of £470 in court fines and charges.