A NEW Year’s Eve party at Britain’s highest pub ended in drink driving mayhem after three friends ended up in a van that crashed into a ditch – but magistrates could not get to the bottom of who was driving.

Daniel Bailes, 24, from Darlington, was found not guilty at Northallerton Magistrates’ Court of drink driving, driving without insurance, and failing to stop after an accident in the early hours of January 1, 2014.

Mr Bailes had gone to Tan Hill Pub, in Arkengarthdale, North Yorkshire, to see in the New Year with friends Gareth Sheraton, 22, and Richard Wilebore, 21, both from Durham.

But despite each only drinking about five pints of ale and a single whisky at midnight, none could remember significant details of the crash.

Alison Whitely, prosecuting, said the friends had gone to Tan Hill Pub with the intention of spending the night camping in Mr Sheraton’s Toyota Hi-Ace van.

She said: “However, something seems to have happened in the pub and all three left and got into the van – and there was a crash.

“When police arrived, they found Mr Wilebore and Mr Sheraton in the van in the two passenger seats at the front.

“They said the driver – Daniel Bailes – had left the scene. He was later found by police walking on the moorland but he denied having being in a car.”

In mitigation, Graham Hunsley said both Mr Sheraton and Mr Wilebore were unreliable witnesses who had colluded to incriminate Mr Bailes.

He said: “Mr Sheraton and Mr Wilebore had been friends for more than 10 years and had known Mr Bailes far less.

“They say they can’t remember leaving the pub, getting into the van or why it was decided to drive – it seems like very convenient memory loss.”

Mr Wilebore told the court he had got into the far passenger seat, with Mr Sheraton in the middle seat, and Mr Bailes in the driver seat when they left Tan Hill Pub shortly after midnight – something Mr Bailes denied.

Mr Sheraton sustained a head injury that was bleeding heavily, which Mr Wilebore said he stayed to attend to after Mr Bailes abandoned the vehicle.

Mr Wilebore also had bruising consistent with a seatbelt in the position he claimed to be in, and Mr Bailes’ saliva was found to the side of the car’s airbag in the driver’s seat – but magistrates felt there was insufficient evidence.

Chairman of the bench Susan Svennevig said: “None of the witnesses have been credible and all have varying degrees of memory impairment.

“Questions such as what other seatbelt injuries there were, if there was blood on the airbag, and what happened to the car keys have not been answered. The prosecution failed to prove Mr Bailes’ guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”