A LEARNER driver who drove when two and a half times the drink drive limit on April Fools Day has been banned from the roads for two years.

York magistrates heard uninsured Daniel Peter Lomax, 23, took a friend’s car without permission and crashed it into a stationary car on Stuart Road, Acomb.

His solicitor Kevin Blount told them Lomax was looking for the people who had just upset his girlfriend.

“Quite what he was going to do if he found them, he doesn’t know,” said Mr Blount. “It was a very foolish decision.”

Lomax, of Brierley Place, Almsford Road, Acomb, pleaded guilty to aggravated taking of a vehicle without consent, drink driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

In addition to the two-year driving ban, he was given a 12-month community order with 200 hours’ unpaid work, ten days’ rehabilitative activities and was ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and an £85 statutory surcharge. He had no previous convictions.

York magistrates heard that after he was arrested, Lomax gave a breath test which had a reading of 91 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Mr Blount said Lomax had had a provisional licence but didn’t at the time of the court case.

He had been in the pub on April 1 when his girlfriend came in upset and told him she had just been “set upon” by a group outside.

Lomax took the car to go and find the group. He believed his judgement was impaired by the alcohol and medication he was taking for depression.

He was very remorseful for his actions and had provided a car for his friend to use while the car he had taken was repaired.

He was also aware that Motor Insurance Bureau which deals with accidents involving uninsured drivers could seek to get repayment for the repairs from him.