A drink driver crashed into a lamppost in Calne after having a heated argument.
Appearing at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on 9 February, Joshua Ryan Scaife pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit.
The court heard how the defendant, of The Pippin, jumped into his Vauxhall Insignia after an argument.
Driving angry and twice over the drink-drive limit on 6 January, 26-year-old Scaife lost control of his vehicle, colliding with a lamppost and came to a stop in a drainage ditch.
Prosecutor Pauline Lambert said he exited the car and walked off in the direction of Calne, despite a member of the public’s efforts to stop him.
A short time later he returned to the crash scene and, stumbling around, attempted to find his mobile phone in the wreckage before leaving the area.
Police officers later arrested Scaife at his home and he was taken to custody, where he provided an evidential sample of 65 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35ug/ml.
Charges of failing to stop at the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident were withdrawn by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Nichola Hutchinson, defending, said her client fully complied with the officers on arrest, and immediately confessed.
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She said the dad-of-one had made the “rash decision” to leave during an argument.
Scaife has “struggled to cope with the breakdown of the relationship”, she added.
Magistrates fined him £430 and imposed a driving disqualification for 18 months. He must also pay costs of £85 and a £43 victim surcharge.
He was offered a drink-drive rehabilitation course, which, if completed successfully, will reduce his disqualification period by 25%.
