A SUSPECTED drink driver was caught pushing his Citroen – after he was spotted driving it the wrong-way down Station Road and crashing into a street light.

Carl Booth, who in 2018 drove a 4x4 into the front of his ex’s home, was spared an immediate jail sentence yesterday after magistrates heard he was working well with the probation service.

Prosecutor Graham Dono told Swindon Magistrates’ Court told the justices that 41-year-old Booth was caught on camera driving the wrong-way down Station Road on Saturday, April 3.

The car hit a lamppost at a pedestrian crossing. Booth got out and tried to push the car away from the lamppost.

He was still by the side of the road when police turned up. He blew 131mcgs of alcohol in 100ml of breath at the roadside – almost four times the legal limit. However, when he got to the police station he was unable to provide a sample of breath.

Appearing before the magistrates on Monday, Booth, of Spring Close, Swindon, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen.

Mitigating, Gordon Hotson said of his client: “He has absolutely no idea why he drove. He’d been with friends, he recalls that he consumed some alcohol, not intending to drive thereafter. The last think he remembers is nipping out to his car to get a cigarette.

“[He has] no recollection of the crash, no recollection of anything until he was in custody.

“He cannot explain why he failed to provide and he accepts that all of those factors cause him some considerable difficulty.”

He was said to be engaging well with the probation service and, although he was currently living in a hostel, had hopes of soon moving into more permanent accommodation. He was currently on universal credit.

Last year, Booth received a 10 month jail sentence for threatening his ex-partner’s new boyfriend. The threats were made while he was on a suspended sentence for deliberately reversing a 4x4 into the woman’s front door.

On Easter Monday, magistrates sentenced him to eight weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He was banned from driving for three-and-a-half years and ordered to do 210 hours of unpaid work, 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay £213 in costs and surcharge.