A motorist who was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit when he crashed a car has been given a three-year driving ban.

Benjamin Arthur Carter, aged 39, of Ronague Road, in Castletown, drove a Mitsubishi Bassara that was going to be scrapped the next day into a stationary Mini, shunting it into a BMW.

It happened on Ronague Road on March 30.

Prosecutor Michael Jelski told the court how, at 4.52pm, police were called to the accident scene, where Carter told them the wheel had fallen off his car causing him to crash.

The car was examined at the vehicle test centre and defects were found in the brake pipes and corrosion found to the chassis.

The examiner concluded the wheel was more likely to have come off as a result of the collision and that none of the defects would have contributed to the collision.

Police who attended the scene said Carter was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words and he failed a roadside breathalyser test.

He was arrested and taken to police headquarters where a further test produced a reading of 91 - the legal limit is 35.

Carter told police he had consumed alcohol at the scene. An expert’s report on post consumption said that even taking this into consideration, the breathalyser reading would still have been no lower than 88.

Defence advocate Peter Taylor asked for credit to be given to his client for his guilty plea and co-operation with the police.

’Mr Carter had been drinking the night before into the early house he tells me,’ said the advocate.

’The accident was just less than 12 hours after and he believed he was sober enough to drive. He was moving the vehicle on behalf of his brother for a recovery truck to collect the next day.

’He believed the wheel fell off. The photos do show it in a very poor condition. It was just being driven a very short distance to be scrapped.’

Carter admitted drink-driving and driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.

He was also fined £1,100 and must retake his test at the end of the ban.