A DRINK driver from York caused £10,000 of damage when he ploughed into cars parked outside his neighbours’ houses at midnight, York magistrates heard.

Daniel Carroll couldn’t see where he was going because his windscreen had iced up, and he was nearly twice the drink drive limit, said Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting.

He abandoned his car and went home, leaving it positioned across the pavement of Shipton Road wedged in a wall.

When police arrived at his house shortly afterwards, Carroll claimed he had drunk a large gin after driving but hadn’t drunk in the hours before he drove.

But forensic analysis showed that he had drunk alcohol before driving, the court was told.

For him, Liam Hassan said: “He had an awful lot to lose.”

A driving ban would cost him his civil engineering job and his insurance company had said they would expect him to refund them the £10,000 they would pay to the damaged cars’ owners.

Carroll, 19, of Shipton Road, pleaded guilty to drink driving. He was fined £325 with a £32 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs. He was banned from driving for 17 months.

Ms Tyrer said: “He had set off rather than wait for the windscreen to clear. He couldn’t see anything and he had ended up hitting and colliding into other cars.”

Witnesses called police and directed them to Carroll’s home. He claimed he had drunk a bottle of lager before 5pm the previous afternoon and had spent the evening at a party but hadn’t drunk alcohol. He gave a breath test reading of 66 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath at the police station at 2am. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.