A DRUNKEN vet who smashed his Land Rover into another car offered the driver a roll of kitchen paper and a £50 note before swearing at him, a hearing was told.

William Sim, 55, careered into shocked Matthew Wilton's Toyota as he sat in a traffic jam, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) heard yesterday.

When Mr Wilton asked to see his driving documents and called police, Sim, who was four times the drink-drive limit, mumbled to himself before trying to drive off, and walked away when officers arrived.

Sim, of Lockhouse Lane, Earswick, York, was yesterday found guilty of the charge he had failed to tell an RCVS disciplinary committee the full extent of a drink-driving conviction, following the incident involving Mr Wilton in Derby in November, 2004.

The hearing was adjourned to today, when the committee was deciding whether he is guilty of misconduct.

Sim had already admitted disgraceful conduct in a professional respect by being under the influence of alcohol on eight occasions when carrying out his duties.

His misdemeanours included turning up to work drunk and hurling abuse at animal lovers at his former surgery at Strensall Road, Earswick.

Mr Wilton told yesterday's hearing how he heard another vehicle scraping down the side of his car and saw a green Land Rover in the middle of the road.

"I jumped out of my car and went to speak to the driver. He wound down his window a little and then stopped.

"I asked him to get out and look at the damage. He then wound the window all the way down and went to hand me a roll of kitchen paper.

"I said: 'What am I supposed to do with this?', and he said nothing, just mumbled a few words which I didn't understand."

Mr Wilton asked Sim for his documents or he would call the police, but said Sim tried to get away.

"I called the police, and then Mr Sim got out of his car, gave me his business card, offered me £50 and told me to .... off. I could smell alcohol on his breath and he was staggering."

PC Lesley Hall said she was able to grab Sim's ignition keys as he tried to drive off, adding he was incapable of giving a breath sample.

Sim admitted drink-driving and was jailed for three months, but was yesterday facing allegations that he failed to tell the RCVS that he hit another vehicle while drink-driving on a public road.

Nicole Curtis, for the RCVS, said he claimed he had been moving his vehicle from one parking space to another.

But Sim told the hearing he could not recall the incident properly because of a black-out, and denied trying to mislead the RCVS.

Updated: 11:07 Tuesday, January 31, 2006