A 20-year-old man who crashed his car after drinking has been fined £1,350 for driving while unfit and careless driving.

Lonan Halsall admitted both offences and was also banned from driving for a year.

Magistrates also ordered him to take an extended driving test at the end of the ban.

Prosecuting advocate Barry Swain told the court that police received a 999 call on May 3 at 11.52pm reporting that a vehicle had crashed on the Sloc Road between Foxdale and Port Erin.

When officers arrived they found Halsall’s Skoda Fabia on a pile of rocks, facing downhill.

Halsall, who lives at Peel Road in Douglas, was at the scene and told police he had been drinking prior to driving.

At the roadside he failed a breathalyser test with a reading of 54.

However, after being taken to police headquarters, the intoxilyzer machine was not working.

Halsall was also deemed unsuitable for a blood test by the medical examiner.

Urine was therefore taken but the sample was later spoiled as it was not examined in time, so it was unable to be used.

When interviewed, Halsall said he had been drinking Fosters, tequila, and whisky and he had been drinking from about 5pm until 10.45pm after arriving home from work.

He said he had then decided to drive to get tobacco but got lost.

Halsall said he had not felt unfit to drive and was travelling at about 60mph.

He said he went around two really sharp corners but had failed to get around the second.

Defence advocate Michael Mudge said that his client had been charged with driving while unfit as no evidential sample was available.

‘Clearly if Mr Halsall wasn’t unfit there was unlikely to have been a collision,’ said the advocate.

‘He was unfamiliar with the roads as he was not born on the island and has lived here a relatively short period of time.’

Mr Mudge went on to say that his client had co-operated with the police throughout and that it could be argued if he had said ‘no comment’ during the interview, the evidence would be less.

The advocate said that Halsall had recently lost his job as an apprentice plumber, but that his father was willing to lend him the money to pay any fine. Magistrates fined Halsall £1,000 for driving while unfit and £350 for careless driving.

Magistrates chair Michael Murley told him: ‘It’s very lucky you or anyone else wasn’t seriously hurt.’

He was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs and will pay all amounts at a rate of £100 per month.