BIRTHDAY drinks with friends led to a 17-month driving ban for a motorist who normally only drinks once a month, magistrates in Swindon heard this week.

Tyre fitter Christopher Rogers, 23, of Manor Crescent, Swindon pleaded guilty to drink driving on February 5 this year when he appeared before the bench on Wednesday.

Kate Prince, prosecuting, told the court that at 3am on February 5 police saw an abandoned BMW on Ferndale Road, Swindon that had obviously been involved in a road traffic accident.

Soon afterwards they found Rogers, who smelled of alcohol, admitted he was the owner of the vehicle and had been driving it that night. He told police he had lost it going round a bend.

A roadside breath test proved positive and a later reading given by the police station intoxilator showed an alcohol level of 69 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Harriet Heard, defending, told the court that Rogers had absolutely no excuse for his actions that night.

It was his birthday and he had arranged to have drinks with friends, one of whom was going to give him a lift. He missed the lift, however, because he was late home from work.

Having no money for a taxi he decided to drive his car. “He says it was the most stupid decision of his life,” Miss Heard said.

Rogers remembered the car hitting the kerb, resulting in enough damage to the car, for which he had saved for years, for it to be written off.

He told Miss Heard that he only drank about once a month and his work as a tyre fitter would be reduced to part-time after a driving ban.

Magistrates disqualified Rogers from driving for 17 months and fined him £200. He was also ordered to pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £30.