A drink-driver who crashed his pick-up truck into a ditch on Mersea Island last month has been banned from driving.

Warren Doolan, of Moss Lane, Romford, crashed his Nissan Navara in East Road, at around 9pm on April 3.

The 51-year-old was helped by another driver to get the vehicle out of the ditch before continuing on his journey to a nearby caravan park where he was staying.

However, he was not aware that a driver who saw the crash followed him and called the police who arrived at the site and, after a search, found Doolan just after 10pm.

He told officers he had drunk two cans of beer since returning home but  a breath test showed he was three times over the drink-drive limit.

On Tuesday, May 15, Doolan pleaded guilty to driving while over the prescribed limit at Colchester Magistrates’ Court and was banned from driving for 26 months and fined £231.

Sergeant Colin Shead, of Stanway Roads Policing Unit, said: “Doolan thought that his drunken collision had gone unnoticed but he didn’t see a vigilant member of the public and following a search by our officers, he was found.

“Doolan claimed that he had been drinking since coming home but his reading was the evidence we needed to prove he had been drinking for much longer period. He has since admitted the offence and has been banned from driving.”