A BRIDGWATER man who lost control of his car on a roundabout colliding with two road signs was more than double the drink drive limit when he was breathalysed by police, a court was told.

When officers were called to the scene of the incident, which happened in the early hours of the morning, they were approached by Benjamin Thorner, who smelt of alcohol and confessed he had been drinking.

After failing a breath test at the roadside, 20-year-old Thorner appeared in court before Somerset Magistrates who were told that his judgement had been clouded by the amount of alcohol he consumed that night.

Thorner, of Stathe Road, Bridgwater, admitted driving a Toyota Corolla on the A372 at Field Road in Langport on March 14 after consuming excess alcohol.

The court, sitting at Yeovil, heard that police were called to the scene of a single-vehicle crash on the A372 at Langport at its junction with the B3151.

“They found a Toyota vehicle abandoned on the roundabout and nobody was with it and they noticed substantial front end damage to the vehicle and two road signs,” prosecutor Emma Lenanton told the court.

“Thorner then approached the police and identified himself as the driver saying he didn’t know what had happened.

“He smelt of alcohol and the police requested a roadside breath test which he failed and he was arrested.”

At the police station a further test produced a reading of 74mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg of alcohol.

Joseph Wright, defending, said that Thorner went out and drank more than he would have normally.

When he went back to the pub where he had intended to stay overnight, they didn’t have enough rooms, he added.

“He didn’t live far away so decided to drive, but he is now shocked at the way the alcohol affected him as he would never have made that decision sober,” Mr Wright told the court.

“His family have been touched indirectly by the effects of drink driving and this has always been drummed into him.

“However Thorner presented himself to the police, knowing he was intoxicated, but did not want to avoid responsibility.”

The magistrates disqualified the defendant from driving for 18 months.

He was also fined £150 as well as being ordered to pay £50 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.