A drink driver who crashed into an on-coming car but drove off with only three tyres has been jailed.

Marcin Przybyla, 45, a chef, was seen some hours later trying to change a wheel on his Honda car in the car park of the Asda supermarket at Queensferry.

Police officers followed tracks made by the rimless wheel out of the car park and up the Aston Hill.

Przybyla, of Hatton Road in Blacon, claimed he could not remember drinking, could not remember the crash or driving off.

The first thing he recalled was being approached later in the supermarket car park, Flintshire magistrates’ court at Mold was told.

He admitted drink driving following a back calculation by a forensic scientist which showed that his reading at the time he was driving would have been in the region of 66 microgrammes, compared to the legal limit of 35.

The defendant, who followed the proceedings with the aid of a Polish interpreter, admitted drink driving, careless driving and failing to stop after an accident.

He was jailed for six months, banned from driving for three years because it was his second such conviction, and he was ordered to take an extended driving test.

Magistrates also fined him £560 with £85 costs and a £115 surcharge.

They were serious offences, they said, which could have resulted in injuries.

It was frightening that he had no memory of the collision or earlier drinking.

Prosecutor Robert Blakemore told how the defendant collided with another vehicle on a wide, straight piece of road near Alltami.

He stopped briefly but then continued on his way without checking if there had been any injuries in the impact.

The defendant then drove on in his severely damaged vehicle and ignored other motorists who tried to attract his attention because of the tyre-less wheel which was being driven on the rim.

Police found him trying to change the wheel and while he provided a reading which was below the limit after 1pm, the back calculation showed that he would have been over the limit at the time of the accident which occurred just after 9am on September 2.

Defending solicitor Fiona Larkin said that Przybyla did not really understand what had happened that day.

He did not remember the collision and did not know if that was because he was injured himself.

Witnesses had told how he stopped, got out of the vehicle briefly and then drove on but he had no explanation.

“There is very little I can say about the offences,” she said.

He accepted the case against him, lived on his own, was working as a chef at a fast food factory.

Probation officer Andrew Connah said that the defendant made no excuses for his behaviour.

He feared that he may have mixed alcohol with prescribed medication.

Ironically he was on pain killing medication after he was the victim of a similar serious incident.

There had been a collision when the defendant was left seriously injured by another driver who did not stop.

He had metal plates fitted because of his own injuries.

Mr Connah recommended a suspended prison sentence.