A DRINK driver who fled the scene on foot after running a red light and crashing into another car has been banned from the roads.  

Ashley Westwood was travelling along the A49 near Cuddington at speed and more than twice over limit, when he ignored a red light at the junction of the A54.

He then hit the rear end of a Volkswagen Golf, injuring the male driver - who had right of way - and causing significant damage to his car.

Westwood and his passenger then fled the scene, abandoning his Ford Fiesta on the road, and making off through an adjacent field.

The 27-year-old turned himself into the police later that evening.

He appeared before Chester magistrates on Wednesday, March 22, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of drink driving and one count of failing to stop after a road accident.

Prosecuting, Stephanie Fanello told the court Westwood had been drinking with friends in Little Budworth, but decided to drive to The Hollies petrol station to buy cigarettes, despite having drunk, he claims, four or five pints.

When breathalysed at the police custody suite some time after the accident, he was found to have 88 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, which is more than twice the legal limit.

She added the driver of the car he hit suffered soreness in his neck and body, and sustained hearing loss caused by the airbag deploying.

When interviewed, Westwood told officers he didn’t feel drunk, and ‘felt fine’ to drive the car.

Defending, Adam Antoszkiw said although magistrates had the option of a custodial sentence, particularly because the failure stop was aggravated by alcohol, he ‘hoped the defendant’s loss of his good character would bring his sentence back into the realms of a community order’.

He added that Westwood, of Erskine Road, Partington, is employed full-time, and would not lose his job as a result of his conviction, so would be in a position pay a financial penalty.

Sentencing, magistrates handed him a 22-month ban and a community order with a requirement for 200 hours unpaid work, to be completed within a year.

He was also told to pay compensation of £200 to the driver of the car he hit, costs of £120 to the Crown Prosecution Service, and a £114 victim surcharge – a total of £434, to be repaid at £100 per month.