A motorist who crashed his car while two-and-a-half times the alcohol limit had turned down a chance to learn how to stop mixing drink and driving, a court heard.

Darren March Allan Porter, 32, was banned from driving for 18 months in July 2003 for drink driving. Magistrates said he could reduce his ban by going on the Government's drink-drive rehabilitation course.

But two-and-a-half years later, he was back in court for a similar offence.

Prosecutor Emma Pearce told York Magistrates Court that police tracked him down to his home address after his vehicle was found crashed halfway up an embankment in Wheldrake Lane, Wheldrake, at 3.20am on December 31, 2006.

A breath test taken at 4am gave a reading of 91 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Porter, a chef, of Church Lane, Wheldrake, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was given a 12-month community order with supervision and a compulsory drink-impaired drivers' rehabilitation course. He was also banned from driving for three years. District judge Martin Walker refused to give him a second chance to reduce his ban by taking the Government course.

Porter's solicitor, Jackie Knights, said Porter had not gone on the Government course because he could not afford to pay for it and buy himself a car.

She told the court that in the run-up to Christmas he had worked long hours seven days a week and he and his girlfriend had broken up.

Feeling low after work on December 30, Porter had had some drinks and didn't think when he got into the car. He had not intended to drive that evening.