A young man has been banned from driving for more than a year after crashing his car following a night out with friends.
John Bowen Hamer, 24, pleaded guilty to being almost twice the drink drive limit when he moved a Toyota car with "no wheels or tyres" into a private driveway before police arrived at the scene in Dernol during the early hours of Sunday, April 23.
Hamer's solicitor told the court that the Elan Valley man moved the car from a corner in the road which posed a danger to other drivers travelling along the A470 between Llanidloes and Rhayader.
Welshpool Magistrates' Court disqualified Hamer from driving for 17 months and ordered him to pay £595 in fines and costs.
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The prosecutor told the court police found Hamer had driven a short distance to a private drive after reporting the crash to 999 at around 2.30am. After they smelt alcohol on him, Hamer did a roadside breath test which gave a result of 67 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35mg.
Michael Davies, mitigating for Hamer, said: "It is quite clear he had a bad year last year. He is a hardworking individual. He works as a groundworker with a firm in Builth Wells with contracts across Powys.
"He was driving to and from all hours of the day and evening. He’s now being taken to work by a colleague.
"He had a bad year because he had split from his long-term partner. The sad thing is takes over 400 miles to see his children. He doesn’t know what arrangements now and one he will have to live with.
"It’s affected his mental health and he accepts that on the 24th he went out drinking with friends to ease those issues. He went driving and sustained damage to the vehicle. He moved it off the road because it was right on a corner and constituted a danger to other road users. He didn’t leave the area and he co-operated with the police."
Hamer was fined £364 for driving with excess alcohol and ordered to pay a £146 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.
Magistrates decided there would be no separate penalty for using a motor vehicle in a condition likely to cause danger of injury.
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