Trainee doctor hit bus in drink-drive smash

A trainee doctor faces jail for driving the wrong way along a one-way street and hitting a bus after downing a litre of whiskey.

Medical student Nishant Kumar, aged 24, crashed head on into a bus along Halesowen Street in Rowley Regis when he got behind the wheel of his Nissan Micra nearly three times the legal limit. Magistrates were told the University of Birmingham student was an alcoholic who had been sober for seven months before the crash last month.

Kumar, who was due to qualify as a doctor next year, has already volunteered the information to the medical council and is waiting to find out if he can continue with his training, the court heard.

The defendant, of Sedgebrook, Liden, in Swindon, Wiltshire, admitted driving while above the legal alcohol level when he appeared before Warley Magistrates Court yesterday.

Mrs Clare Davis, prosecuting, said police arrested him at the scene of the collision on July 31 and tested him for alcohol. The lowest reading was 125mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, more than three times the legal limit of 35mg.

She said he had told officers he had consumed one litre of whiskey.

Mr James Cooper, defending, said: "Mr Kumar realises the seriousness of the situation. The reading of course is extremely high, in excess of three times the legal limit.

"He fully appreciates that he is in the realms of risking a custodial sentence. This offence is clearly going to create some serious career issues. The difficulty is he is a confessed alcoholic. This started about three years ago when he first started at university."

Mr Cooper said the defendant was seeking various forms of help for his addiction and had been sober for seven months but could not remember why he had started drinking on this occasion and had no memory of driving the car or of the collision.

Magistrates told Kumar the alcohol reading was so high they were considering a custodial sentence.

He was bailed until sentence due on September 4.