A MAN accused of driving a car which crashed, causing serious injury to two passengers, yesterday told a court the whole incident was "a daze".

Graham Leigh admits he was drunk on the evening of the accident, on February 27, 1999, but said he had no recollection of who was at the wheel of the Honda Accord car on a journey between two pubs.

Mr Leigh, 24, told Durham Crown Court, that he neither had a driving licence or a car at the time of the accident.

The court has heard that the Honda failed to take a single lane hump-backed railway bridge, on Black Boy Road, Chilton Moor, near Houghton-le-Spring.

It struck a wall of the bridge, became airborne, and had its doors and side panels ripped off as it collided with a tree.

Witnesses arriving on the scene after the accident saw someone of Mr Leigh's description pulling two semi-conscious passengers from the car wreckage, before walking off over a field.

Giving evidence on the third day of his trial, Mr Leigh said he walked away to seek help, but admitted he was in a daze.

Asked if he was the driver, he said he could not remember who drove the car, but after the accident he came around in the back sitting alongside one of the injured passengers, Donna Marie Walker.

Miss Walker and front-seat passenger Scott Leather, who each suffered serious injuries in the accident, both told the court that Mr Leigh was driving.

Mr Leigh, of Avenue Vivian, Fence Houses, near Houghton-le-Spring, denies dangerous driving.

The trial continues today