Fear of a parking ticket led a Goodwick man to crash into three cars while nearly treble the drink-drive limit, a court has heard.

Gareth Owen, 33, of Prescelly Crescent, Stop and Call, appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates on Tuesday, September 12, to plead guilty to driving while over the legal alcohol limit, and failing to stop after an accident.

The court heard that Owen, who was previously of good character, had originally intended to just have one drink when he went into Fishguard on August 28, but ended up having too much alcohol.

He walked back to Goodwick and realised that his Citroen Picasso was in a place which could attract a parking penalty.

Mike Kelleher, defending, said: “Foolishly he decided to drive it up the hill and take it home.”

Owen was almost home when neighbours heard a loud bang as he collided with three parked cars, and continued driving along the road.

He was seen stumbling outside his house and was described as ‘clearly drunk’.

Vaughan Pritchard-Jones, prosecuting, said: “Fortunately the defendant was covered by insurance, so the damage to the other vehicle will be dealt with.”

Mr Kelleher added that there had been no attempt to flee the scene following the collision after Owen was confronted by his neighbour.

He was arrested at 2.28am and was later found to have 102mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit is 35mg.

Magistrates heard that Owen was ‘extremely remorseful’ and sentenced him to a 12 month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work. They ordered him to pay £170 in court costs and charges.

He was banned from driving for 23 months.