A wedding guest upset by taunts over his health left the hotel where he had booked overnight accommodation and set off to drive home through the night in spite of drinking after the ceremony, a court was told today.

But Harrogate magistrates heard how Anthony Hine, a 41-year-old multiple sclerosis victim, had not got very far before he lost control of his green Rover and smashed into trees at Almsford Bank on the A61 on the outskirts of the town.

And tests showed Hine, of Ings Villas, Liversedge, Bradford, who pleaded guilty to drink-driving, failing to stop and failing to report an accident charges dropped, was more than twice the limit.

Prosecutor Sam Rogers said Hine, who had been found by police hiding in a garden close to the scene of the accident at 2am on June 25, had been apologetic.

In mitigation Karen Davies said Hine had been hoping to take on more than his present part-time work with his company, after a year off with his MS which had first been diagnosed in 1996. But without his licence he did not know whether he would still have a job.

He had moved into rented accommodation after selling his home to provide capital to live on but his funds were dwindling.

Miss Davies said Hine had enjoyed the wedding and had been in a hotel lift on the way to his room when a friend and colleague made nasty'' references to his medical condition.

The end of the argument which followed had been the last he could remember until being at the police station. He can't understand why he would have got into the car and driven off.

Hine was fined £250 with £45 costs, a £15 victims' fund surcharge and a two-year driving ban.