A drug rehab volunteer refused to let police take a sample of his blood after he crashed his car – because he’d taken diazepam the night before.

Swindon Magistrates’ Court heard Ronald Green, 37, was behind the wheel of his BMW at around 9pm on July 10 last year when, at around 9pm, he hit a roundabout and crashed his car on the A338 near Tidworth.

He was taken to the Great Western Hospital, where police got the permission of doctors to ask him for a blood sample so it could be checked for any illegal substances. But Green to refused to let a phial of his blood be taken.

The BMW driver, who has not been before the courts since 2009, was charged with failing to provide a specimen.

Green, now of Pentre Treharne Road, Swansea, had initially denied the offence, but this month changed his pleas to guilty.

Luke Jameson, defending, said his client “wanted to be honest about the situation”. He had taken two diazepam tablets the previous day and feared the anti-anxiety drug would show up on the test results.

A former heroin addict, he had fractured two vertebrae in his lower back in the crash but had been unable to take any pain medication as he was concerned about the possibility of relapsing into his former habit.

He volunteered as a mentor to recovering addicts, including with Gloucester House in Highworth for around a decade. On the night of his crash he had been driving down to see a mentee in Salisbury.

Mr Jameson said Green had a 16-year-old son.

Chairman of the bench Sarah Neish sentenced him to a 12 month community order with a requirement to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £240 in costs and surcharge. He was banned from the roads for 17 months.