A DRINK-driver who decided to drive because his girlfriend struggled to reverse out of a parking space, has been banned.

Michael Lewis, 35, and his girlfriend had been socialising at a pub just a mile from his Main Road, Eastburn, home on May 26 this year.

In Ash Grove, Sutton, he hit the back of a parked Range Rover but did not stop. An approaching vehicle which had slowed down to allow him to safely pass, had witnessed the incident and alerted the police with Lewis' registration number.

Lewis, a civil engineer, admitted drink-driving and failing to stop after and accident. Unrepresented in court he said he was foolish to have driven but had done so after his girlfriend. who had only had one drink, could not reverse out of the parking space at the pub and he carried on driving.

He said he had panicked when he hit the Range Roger and drove off.

When police breathalysed him he blew 83 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He was disqualified from driving for 22 months, was fined £408 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £163 and costs of £85.

His license was endorsed for failing to stop.

He was told he could reduce his disqualification by 22 weeks if he successfully completed a drink-drive rehabilitation course.