Man who stayed up to 3am drinking was three times alcohol limit when he crashed
A drink driver who caused a morning crash involving three cars after swigging alcohol throughout the night has been banned from the road.
Colin Gentles was more than three times the drink drive limit when he clipped the mirror of another car while driving a Toyota Yaris in Abbots Bromley in Staffordshire at around 7.50am on May 30.
He then rebounded into a car coming the other way, hitting it "more or less head-on" with both vehicles severely damaged and partly in a hedge at the side of the road, prosecutor Mrs Hannah Baddeley told Cannock Magistrates Court.
She said that Gentles had a cut on his forehead about the size of a 50p coin, while the other driver had a shoulder injury.
Mrs Baddeley added that when police arrived they could smell alcohol on him, and a roadside breath test came back positive.
Once at the station, the 64-year-old provided two readings, the lowest of which was 124 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of alcohol. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
Mrs Baddeley said Gentles admitted driving the car and told police he was drinking lager and spirits until 3am the night before, adding that he said it wasn't a regular occurrence and he regretted driving.
Gentles, of Sunley Drive, Hednesford, admitted drink driving on Wednesday and will be sentenced at a later date. He was given an interim ban in the meantime.
