A BANNED driver took the “regrettable decision” to make a mercy dash in a friend’s car after drinking, a court was told.

Mark Robinson had been drinking while watching cricket on television at his home in Shotton Colliery when he learned his partner, who has arthritis, had fallen while visiting a friend in Dalton Piercy, near Hartlepool, on August 4 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard Robinson had served a four-year driving disqualification, imposed in 2012, but had not taken an extended test to enable him to legally get behind the wheel again.

Despite that, he borrowed a friend’s Vauxhall Insignia and set off down the A19 to go to his partner’s assistance.

Penny Bottomley, prosecuting, said an Insignia was seen travelling at high speed in Dalton Lane, Dalton Piercy, at 7.35pm.

Moments later there was a loud crash and the witness saw the car in a stream, with Robinson getting out of the driver’s door.

The witness smelled alcohol on him and so rang police, who, on reaching the scene, took a positive breath sample, with a reading of more than double the drink-drive limit.

Robinson, 45, of Grange Court, Shotton Colliery, admitted driving with excess alcohol, driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Will Byrne, mitigating, told the court: “He tells me he was watching cricket on television all day, but learned that his partner had fallen and so made the highly regrettable decision to drive to where she was.

“He went in a friend’s car, and, otherwise, wouldn’t have been driving.

“He accepts he ought not to have been driving. He’s not offering it as an excuse, hence his guilty pleas.”

Judge Christopher Prince asked for more accurate details from Mr Byrne to back up the defendant’s account of events.

The case subsequently came back into court, after Mr Byrne provided further information for the hearing, and Judge Prince said it appeared “sufficiently detailed” to be accepted as a genuine basis of plea.

Having been told the defendant is a self-employed businessman on a good income, Judge Prince said he would deal with him by imposing a financial penalty. and a further driving disqualification.

Robinson was given a two-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, and must pay fines totalling £1,500, plus a £115 statutory surcharge.

He was also banned from driving for a further three years.