A DRINK-driver who was texting his wife when he crashed into another car has been jailed.

York magistrates told David Atkinson he was “a huge risk” to the public and banned him from driving for 18 months.

Cathy Turnbull, prosecuting, told them the 38-year-old joiner was using his mobile phone and was two and a half times the drink driving limit as he drove down Huntington Road, York, at 10.30pm on November 16.

His BMW car drifted across the road into a Volvo travelling in the opposite direction, scraped along its side and made it spin 90 degrees and hit the kerb.

When the Volvo driver and passengers said they would contact police, Atkinson ran off and later lied to officers that he had only drunk alcohol after the incident.

The crash wrote off the Volvo, which was a special edition and had cost £32,000 when new.

“You are a huge risk,” magistrates told Atkinson. “You were texting and driving, you had alcohol in your system. We have to think of the public.”

They jailed him for six months. Atkinson was on parole at the time from a six-year sentence imposed in 2013 for cocaine dealing.

The father, of Seventh Avenue, Tang Hall, changed his plea to guilty to all offences on the day he had been due to stand trial for dangerous driving, drink driving, driving while using a mobile phone and failure to stop after an accident.

His solicitor Scott McLaughlin said: “These offences are linked to his drinking, drink leads to bad decision making. He is not a lost cause – he has not reoffended since November 16.”

He handed in a reference from Atkinson’s employer.

In a victim personal statement, the Volvo driver, whose wife had been with him when the accident happened, said: “We are now living our lives differently. We have been penalised for doing nothing.”

Three days after the crash, delayed shock had raised his blood pressure so high, he woke shaking with an uncontrollable nose bleed and he had had to make many visits to his doctor as a result.

The couple had needed to spend £10,000 on a new car which meant they were unable to buy a new caravan.

Mr McLaughlin said Atkinson had had a problem with alcohol all his life which he was trying to tackle.