A man with no motor insurance who downed ten pints before taking his friend's car and smashing it into a wall has been warned that he could face a jail sentence.
20-year-old Adam Branson admitted aggravated vehicle taking, drink driving and driving with no car insurance or licence at Norwich Magistrates' Court, and the bench advised that he might be put into custody following completion of pre-sentence reports.
The court heard how Branson was staying with a friend, Amanda Taylor, when he took her car keys from the kitchen without permission and roared off in her Mondeo. When she realised the car had gone several hours later she called the police, who set out to look for the Ford.
But in those few hours Branson had been busy and had knocked back ten pints of snakebite at a nearby pub. Snakebite, a snifter worshipped by students across the country, is a heady concoction of cider and lager guaranteed to make even the most hardened drinker wake up with a banging headache.
After his binge session Branson leapt back into the seat of the stolen car and proceeded to zig-zag down the road, sending other motorists swerving out of the way in panic. His crazed journey didn't last long, however, and he soon veered off the road and into a wall, writing-off the car in the process. Police arrived, breathalysed Mr Branson and, not surprisingly, arrested him.
Hearing about Branson's case, Mike Page from Hoot Car Insurance Services, specialists in young driver car insurance, said, "Anyone who drinks and drives has got to be stupid and runs the risk of losing their right to get a cheap car insurance deal, as I'm sure Mr Branson will discover soon enough."