A COMPANY director was left upside down for an hour and a half inside his £24,000 sports car after it crashed and overturned.

Jonathan Houlston was trapped in his BMW Z3 for 90 minutes before firefighters cut him free. He was then arrested for drink-driving.

Harrogate Magistrates' Court heard yesterday how Houlston suffered a broken arm in the crash and had been in agony waiting to be freed.

Joseph Spencer, prosecuting, told the court that Houlston, 25, crashed his silver sports car close to his home at Aketon Close, Haggs Road, Follifoot, near Harrogate, at 1.30pm on February 22.

Three hours later, tests showed he was 30 milligrammes over the drink-drive limit of 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Houlston admitted driving with excess alcohol. He was banned from the roads for a year and fined £400 with £60 costs.

His solicitor, David Ake, said Houlston had drunk beer and wine on the Friday night after finishing work as development director of his father's engineering business, but had left his car at home.

On the Saturday morning, he made business calls and although he went to a pub in Boston Spa, he drank only coffee. He then met an acquaintance and had a pint of beer with him before his accident.

Mr Ake said that the pint, together with the previous night's consumption, had been enough to take him over the limit.