A MAN described as a ‘community leader’ crashed his car after drinking five pints of Guinness, a court heard last week.

Terence Myles, 51, of Conway Court, appeared at Chester and Ellesmere Port Magistrates Court on Friday and pleaded guilty to driving while over the limit on Sunday, May 2.

Myles, who has volunteered for years at Vauxhall Motors Amateur Boxing Club (ABC) and was integral in the setting up of a learning centre at the plant, admitted spending the Saturday at a friend’s barbecue before joining another group for drinks at Wirral One Hundred, Great Sutton, where he stayed until closing.

Rob Youds, prosecuting, described how at about 12.15am the owner of a vehicle parked outside a property on Hope Farm Road heard the sound of a collision and went outside to investigate.

He discovered that Myles had crashed his Vauxhall Insignia into the back of his stationary vehicle.

The car’s owner called the police, who performed a roadside test after smelling alcohol on Myles’ breath and noticing his speech was slurred.

He was arrested after the test proved positive. The lowest reading taken later at Ellesmere Port Police Station showed 86 mg of alcohol in 100 millilitres, compared to the legal limit of 35mg.

Richard Thomas, defending, said: “He totally accepts what he’s done is wrong, he made a bad error of judgement.

“He fully intended to order a taxi home but as he left the pub it started to drizzle and he made the costly decision to get behind the wheel of his car.”

Mr Thomas added: “This is someone considered to be an important member of the Ellesmere Port community, in many ways a community leader.

“Anyone who knows him has been shocked to discover what’s happened.”

Mr Thomas told that court that Myles had recently gone through a difficult divorce and lost his mother a week earlier after a long illness.

Magistrates banned Myles from driving for 18 months and ordered him to pay £400 in fines, costs and a victim surcharge.