A man who drunkenly crashed his car and then tried to hide from police officers in an alley has been handed a lengthy driving ban.
Twenty-nine-year-old Matthew Scott Douglas, of London Road, Pembroke Dock, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to admit a charge of driving his Ford Focus after exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol.
Prosecutor Abul Hussain told the court that police officers attended the scene of a traffic collision on May 5, which occurred on Pembroke’s Main Street.
“The defendant left the scene and made his way down an alley, but was located and identified shortly after by police officers,” he said.
Mr. Douglas told officers that he was not going to ‘anything silly’ but that he’d simply ‘panicked and ran’ after crashing his car.
A roadside test procedure proved positive, and the defendant gave a reading of 55 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, at the police station.
The court heard how Mr. Douglas had a relevant drink-driving conviction on record from 2010.
Defence solicitor Jonathan Webb told the court that Mr. Douglas had been in the public house that day and had ordered a taxi before he left, which was only ten minutes away.
“It seems that whilst waiting for the taxi, he had a row with someone before leaving the pub and and wanted to exit as soon as he could. Stupidly he got into his car and drove, rather than wait up the road.
“It was a minor RTC, and he went down the alleyway before holding his hands up to the police,” added Mr. Webb.
Magistrates disqualified Mr. Douglas from driving for three years and fined him £120 for the offence.
He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £35 victim surcharge.