A TEENAGER who stole his father’s car while more than three times over the alcohol limit and then crashed it on the A66 has been banned from driving for three years and four months.

Joshua Nathan Briggs, 18, took the Fiat Punto from his father’s house in Darlington Back Lane, in Stockton, in the early hours of June 3, after drinking 12 pints of lager on a night out.

Briggs appeared at Darlington Magistrates’ Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, driving while over the alcohol limit, driving without insurance and without a licence.

David Maddison, prosecuting, told the court that police were called to the A66 eastbound, at Sadberge, near Darlington, shortly after 5.40am by a passing motorist who saw the damaged vehicle.

He said: “When police arrived at the scene of the crash the defendant admitted that it belonged to his father and he did not have permission to drive it. He told officers that he had been out drinking in Stockton and had been extremely drunk.”

A breath test showed he had 96 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

A probation report found that Briggs had previously been in trouble as a youth due to drug taking, but had turned his life around after changing his circle of friends and starting a full-time job.

John Clish, in mitigation, said that while Briggs’ father was disappointed with his son’s actions, he had stood by him.

He added: “No-one is more disappointed or frustrated with the defendant than he is with himself. He thought he had turned a corner.

“By his own admission he had a considerable amount to drink but he can offer no explanation why he got in the car.

“It has given him a wake up call about the consequences of drinking too much alcohol and he has not touched a drop since the incident. He knows he is lucky he did not cause someone else, or himself, serious harm in the crash.”

Magistrates banned Briggs from driving for 40 months, fined him £110 and ordered him to pay £500 compensation to his father to cover his insurance excess charge after the car was written off.

He was also put under curfew for 12 weeks and made subject to a six month community order. He will pay court costs of £85 and a £15 victim surcharge.