A soldier has forfeited his right to a cheap deal from a young driver car insurance firm after being caught nearly three times over the drink-drive limit.
22-year-old Christopher Ferri was driving his future father-in-law's Ford Mondeo when he smashed into a fence in Kirkham, Lancashire, shredding the front tyres and causing extensive damage to the bodywork.
Ferri, who has an impeccable military record and has seen service with the Royal Logistics Corps in Kosovo and Northern Ireland, had been celebrating a birthday on the evening of the accident. He had shared a bottle of whisky with his future father-in-law before taking the car for a spin "for a giggle".
Police officers attending the scene breathalysed Ferri and found him to have 92 micrograms of alcohol in his body. The legal limit is 35 micrograms and so the soldier was promptly arrested.
Appearing at Blackpool Magistrates' Court, he pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol and without a licence or motor insurance and was fined £500 and banned from the road for two years.
Defending the youngster, Hugh Pond said, "Quite a lot of whisky was consumed and he can't really remember what happened."
A spokesman from Hoot Car Insurance Services, the young driver car insurance experts, commented, "There is no excuse for drink-driving and this young man is going to find his car insurance premium rocket as a result of his conviction."