A banned drink driver who ploughed his work van through two back gardens and into a shed said he confused the accelerator for the brake. And now Matthew Ashenden has three months to prove to a judge he can start saving to pay damage compensation and stay out of trouble.
Ashenden conceded that he drank on New Year's Eve and into New Year's Day. Bristol Crown Court heard he was intoxicated at the time and it was "luck rather than judgement" that no-one was killed or seriously injured.
Ashenden, 39, of Bourneville Road in Weston-super-Mare, pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, driving with excess alcohol and without insurance on January 1 this year.
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Judge Euan Ambrose deferred sentence for three months. He told Ashenden in court yesterday (March 13): "I make no promises. There's a good deal of testing to be done here."
Charlotte Evans, prosecuting, said residents in Bourneville Road heard bangs from their back gardens around 1.30pm on New Year's Day. When they investigated it transpired Ashenden had slammed his work Citroen Berlingo van through fences over two gardens and crashed into a shed.
Miss Evans told the court a "dazed and agitated" Ashenden admitted to people who arrived at the scene that he had put his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. When police arrived at the scene Ashenden initially gave them a false name before failing a roadside breath test.
He was arrested and taken into custody and another breath test revealed he had 48 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The limit is 35.
The court heard the garden owners were left devastated by destruction caused. In all the damage was put at some £5,000.
Joseph Broadway, defending, said: "He accepts it is a very serious offence. He recognises the particularly precarious position he put himself in.
"He's very remorseful for his actions. He said he was ashamed of his behaviour."
Mr Broadway said his client had moved the van he had recently been supplied with after drinking into the morning and was intoxicated at the time. Mr Broadway added: "It was luck than judgement no-one was killed or seriously injured."
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