AFTER drinking at a friend’s birthday party, a guest took his host’s car and led police on a 75mph chase with the lights off — before a crash which wrote-off the vehicle.

‪Graeme White, 32‬, was invited to the small celebratory gathering at pal Jordan Nicholson’s home on July 18.

White arrived in good spirits and said he would walk home in the early hours as other guests left and Mr Nicholson said he was going to bed.

The householder locked up and fell asleep. White, however, did not wander home, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

“Unbeknownst to Mr Nicholson, the defendant had driven off in his car — a Skoda Octavia — after taking the keys,” said prosecutor Alexandra Sutton.

The owner only realised his car was missing when police contacted him the next morning.

In the meantime, officers had spotted the Skoda being driven in Workington without lights. As they attempted to stop it, White sped away and reached 75mph, braking heavily and flouting road rules before the Skoda came off the road and collided with a lamp post and then a wall.

“As officers approached, the defendant attempted to leave the scene and was ultimately detained nearby,” said Ms Sutton.

He was almost twice the legal drink-drive limit, and had since paid £1,800 towards the cost of the written-off car, Ms Sutton told the court.

‪White, of High Seaton, near Workington, admitted drink-driving, aggravated taking without consent of a vehicle driven dangerously, failing to stop for police and no insurance.‬ Brendan Burke, defending, referred to background information while mitigating, saying White “wasn’t thinking straight on the night”.

“He had decided he shouldn’t have done what he had done,” Mr Burke said of the fateful journey. “He was making his way back to his friend’s.”

Judge Nicholas Barker told White he had posed a “serious hazard” that night, “Driving cars dangerously puts people at real risk,” said the judge, who suspended an eight-month jail term for 18 months.

“You made a decision to take his car. I’ve read about the upset that caused him and it is an act of complete disloyalty to a long-standing friend.”

White must also carry out unpaid work, observe a three-month night-time curfew and a 21-month driving ban.