Last updated at 08:07, Friday, 08 February 2013

A man who travelled in a stolen car then stole a scooter and crashed it while drink driving told a judge: “I obviously can’t drive.”

Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard that Gary David Ferguson, 22, of Brookside, Raffles, Carlisle, was a passenger in a Honda Accord stolen last August.

He and the driver were travelling near Kirkbride Airfield when the car became stuck in mud late at night.

Ferguson wanted to get back home to Carlisle and decided to steal a scooter he found in a shed. Two days later he drove the scooter down Dobinson Road in Carlisle while nearly three times the legal alcohol limit and was involved in a collision. No-one else was injured but Ferguson was taken to hospital.

He had since served time in prison for burglary and his solicitor John Smith said this had inspired him to turn his life around.

He said: “He has performed extremely well and tried to get his life back on track.

“He really does appear to be putting some effort in.”

District Judge Gerald Chalk gave Ferguson a 60-day prison sentence, suspended for a year, banned him from driving for two years and ordered him to pay £85 costs.

After sentencing Ferguson pledged to stay off the roads, telling Judge Chalk: “I obviously can’t drive.”

First published at 08:06, Friday, 08 February 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk