A student on a policing degree at the University of Cumbria dialled 999 after crashing his car – because he was over the drink drive limit.

Conscience-stricken David Smith, 21, who studies at the university’s Carlisle campus, felt he had no choice but to report himself after losing control of his car on the M6 just south of the city.

At the Carlisle’s magistrates’ court, Smith admitted drink driving and was handed an 18-month ban along with a £115 fine.

Peter Kelly, prosecuting, said police responded to the defendant’s emergency call after it came in at 4.20am on June 12, and found Smith had crashed his Suzuki car on the northbound slip road of Junction 42.

When breathalysed, Smith was found to be slightly over twice the legal limit for alcohol in breath.

He told police he had consumed two bottles of wine and then “for unknown reasons” gone for a drive.

Mr Kelly noted that the defendant was remorseful and also a man of previous good character.

“Nobody else was involved in the accident,” he said.

Mark Shepherd, for Smith, whose home address is in Atherstone, Warwickshire, said: “This young man was absolutely devastated at the police station when I saw him there after his arrest. He is extremely remorseful.

“Why he thought it would be an appropriate time to clear his head by driving we don’t know.

“He was fully cooperative in his interview and the demonstrable evidence of his remorse is that he rang the matter in to the police himself.”

Mr Shepherd said the car was his client’s pride and joy.

A fully licensed driver since 2012, Smith accepted that he had put other road users at risk by driving while drunk and he would now have to pay for the damage he had caused to the motorway crash barrier.

The lawyer said Smith had finished the second year of a degree of his policing degree and planned to continue his studies in Carlisle to obtain a BSc in policing.

The lawyer handed over character references from a former employer and a current employer, for whom Smith works 16 hours a week.

Mr Shepherd said: “He has devoted a lot of his young life to helping people. He realises he has had a privileged upbringing.

“On the day [this happened] he’d been collecting for the Help the Heroes charity in Warwick Road.

“He has also assisted as a volunteer for the foodbank and at furniture reuse centres,” Mr Shepherd added.

District Judge Gerald Chalk noted the defendant’s positive good character but said Smith was more than twice the limit.

The judge also imposed costs of £85 and a £30 victim surcharge.