A 20-YEAR-OLD Skipton man drove to a petrol station to buy a late night snack after he had been drinking on New Year's Eve, the town's magistrates heard.

Jonathan Wade, of Burnside Crescent, was disqualified from driving for two years, fined £500 and ordered to pay costs of £50 after pleading guilty to driving his Volkswagen Polo on the A629 road to Kildwick when twice over the legal limit.

Prosecutor Caroline Midgley said the police had attended an accident involving Wade's vehicle and a Peugeot 106.

Wade presented himself to one of the officers at the time and said: 'I was the driver of the Polo, it was all my fault'.

In mitigation, solicitor Alister Keighley said this was the first time the defendant had come before a court, adding that Wade was a hard-working young man.

He told the court: 'He went out on New Year's Eve. He went to a local licensed premises, saw in the New Year and then went home. He then fell asleep and when he awoke he felt hungry, but instead of raiding the fridge he thought he would go to the local Esso garage.'

Mr Keighley said Wade had thought he was alright to drive, and was very surprised at the subsequent level of his reading.

He added that Wade had visited the Esso garage in Skipton to find it was shut and therefore he decided to go to one in Cross Hills.

'It was a measure of him that as soon as the police arrived at the accident, he went to them and said it was his fault,' continued Mr Keighley.

'Mr Wade did go home after New Year but did not realise how much the drink had affected him.'

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