A DRINK driver faces a jail term of up to two years after district judge Adrian Lower decided his powers were insufficient to deal with him.

Katherine Smith, prosecuting, said Brett Craven disregarded other people's safety as he tried to evade police in east York.

During the high speed pursuit, he drove through red traffic lights and hit 55 mph in a 30 mph area before abandoning the car in a cul-de-sac.

Police arrested him as he crouched behind a bush in a garden and found a bottle of wine two thirds empty in his car.

A breath test revealed he had 92 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, two and a half times the legal limit of 35.

Craven, of Lucas Avenue, Clifton, pleaded guilty to drink driving and dangerous driving.

York Magistrates Court did not hear any mitigation after the district judge announced he should be sentenced at York Crown Court.

Craven was released on bail until he appears before a judge later this summer.

Mrs Smith said police first realised something was wrong when they saw him driving badly on Foss Islands Road just after midnight on Saturday November 3.

When they tried to stop him, he drove off at speed through a red light near the retail section of Foss Islands Road.

Then he jumped a traffic light at the junction of Barbican Road and Lawrence Road before continuing via Thief Lane and Green Dykes Lane across Hull Road into Melrosegate before parking the car at an angle in Beckside Gardens and fleeing on foot.

Police initially lost sight of him and searched the area before finding him behind the bush in Beckside Gardens, smelling of alcohol.