Drink-driver flipped ex’s car in Retford and tried to walk away from crash

Gerald O'Brien climbed out of the passenger window after colliding with street furniture on London Road, on the night of August 28.

Prosecutor Alexis Mercer said "plenty of witnesses" saw him slurring his words and bleeding from the head before calling the police.

One member of the public folllowed him until police arrived. A breath test revealed he had 104 microgrammes of alcohol when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

The car, which he borrowed from his partner without asking for permission, sustained "significant damage".

O'Brien, aged 57, told police he drank eight pints of beer and had been staying at a local pub, but argued with his ex-partner and intended to drive to her address.

He said the collision happened because the windows were steamed up and he didn't remember much because he had banged his head.

The court heard O'Brien has one previous conviction for assault causing actual bodily harm and received an 18-month community order at the crown court in November last year.

Ryan Higginbotham, mitigating, said the offence was "out of character" and “he knew it could have had far more serious consequences."

He said O’Brien, a self-employed plasterer, had been living with his partner until last week but is now homeless and sofa-surfing.

O'Brien, formerly of Crow Park Avenue, Sutton-on-Trent, Newark, admitted drink driving and taking a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

"I think you have got a real problem with alcohol if I am being honest," the presiding magistrate told him.

O’Brien received an additional 12-month community order, with ten rehabilitation days, and will be made subject to an alcohol abstinence monitoring order for 90 days.

He was disqualified from driving for 24 months but a rehabilitation course will reduce the ban if he completes if by February 10 2025.

He was fined £692 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 surcharge.