A DRINK-DRIVE pensioner bumped his Audi into another car at a village supermarket and then tried to leave the scene, a court heard.

A witness had to use his own vehicle to block Stephen Charles Davies, 66, at the Co-op on Church Road in Saughall, Chester, on the evening of June 20.

But Davies – who had driven to the store to buy nicotine-replacement mints – then bashed the man’s car several times as he tried to manoeuvre past it.

Chester Magistrates Court heard the retired engineer had initially knocked his car into a Dodge just after its shocked owner had put her daughter in the back seat.

She challenged him, suggesting he had been drinking, and then watched in amazement as he got back into his car and tried to leave.

The woman then stood in front of his Audi A4 before another customer positioned his own car in front of Davies to block him in.

“The witness then says his vehicle was hit three or four times causing damage to the passenger doors,” prosecutor Alan Currums told the court.

Eventually they managed to take Davies’ keys and called the police.

The defendant, who has no previous convictions, was found to have 95 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath when the legal limit is 35.

He pleaded guilty to drink driving and was handed a 12-month community order to include 120 hours of unpaid work.

Becky Hay, defending, said Davies had lost his youngest brother in recent years and had also attended his father’s funeral two days before the incident.

He had taken to drinking whisky as a coping mechanism and had only driven a mile to the shop to buy mints as he had given up smoking.

Miss Hay told magistrates: “He has committed this offence in what can only be described as a moment of utter madness.

“It is extremely out of character. This is the first and last time this gentleman will darken our doors.”

She also said her client had voluntarily attended alcohol support services at Aqua House in Chester and was “very remorseful”.

Davies, of Seahill Road, Saughall, was banned from driving for two years and must also pay £85 court costs and an £85 victim surcharge.