Drink-driver 'did not realise he had hit wall'

A drink-driver who reversed into a garden wall has been given a 12-week suspended prison sentence.

Cambridgeshire Police was called to The Brickhills, St Neots, when a white van reversed into the wall on 19 December.

Officers found Christopher Ratcliffe, of Duck Lane, "slumped over the steering wheel" with empty bottles of alcohol in the front of the vehicle.

At Cambridge Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, the 44-year-old was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, after pleading guilty to failing to provide an evidential sample in custody.

Ratcliffe told officers he had been parked in a layby before providing a roadside breath test of 148 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, more than four times the legal limit.

He was disqualified from driving for three years and ordered to undergo a 12-month alcohol treatment plan.

PC Jordan Pike said: "Ratcliffe was extremely intoxicated to the point he didn't realise he had crashed into a garden wall.

"Further police checks also revealed he had been charged with drink-driving on 13 October but had failed to appear at court.

"He also has previous convictions for drink-driving."

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