A MAN who took his parents' car without permission and crashed it into a traffic light when he was nearly four times over the drink drive limit has been sent to prison.

Mark Steven Errington, 21, had taken his parents' car after an all-day drinking session, Darlington Magistrates' Court heard yesterday.

Peter Smith, prosecuting, said Errington's mother had hidden the car keys in his father's lunch box.

Later in the day, when the police telephoned her to tell her that her son had been involved in an accident, she looked out of the window to find the family car missing, said Mr Smith.

She was given a lift to the scene of the accident, in Newton Lane, in Darlington.

"She saw the family car had been crashed into some traffic lights at Cockerton Green," said Mr Smith.

Errington, of Jedburgh Drive, was arrested and it became apparent that he did not have his father's permission to use the silver Rover 218. He was almost four times the drink-drive limit.

Laura Saunders-Jerome, mitigating, said that Errington did not remember the incident and had accepted the prosecution's version of events. She said it was his first dishonesty offence.

She said Errington was trying to stop drinking and had voluntarily contacted the North East Council on Addictions. He was also taking medication, which would make him feel ill if he drank alcohol.

She said: "He was reckless on the day in question, he was stupid and irresponsible and he accepts that. But he has not got a criminal mind in the dishonest sort of way."

She added: "He realises he has come to the end of the line in being able to get away with behaviour like this."

But magistrates felt the incident was so serious that custody was the only option.

The chairman of the bench, William Unsworth, said his decision was influenced by the fact that Errington's drink-drive reading was very high.

As well as pleading guilty to drink driving, Errington also admitted taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and driving without insurance.

He was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and banned from driving for five years