A BUILDER who drove into a footballer’s car while drunk has been fined and banned from driving for 18 months.

Christopher David Larner, 31, of Meadow Close, Weymouth, pleaded guilty to being above the legal drink-drive limit when he appeared before the town’s magistrates.

Larner admitted driving a BMW in the car park at Weymouth Football Club, which belonged to his friend and match-day sponsor Joe Djeebet, while having 61 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath – the legal limit is 35.

Larner also admitted driving the vehicle without insurance and without the consent of Mr Djeebet while drunk and hitting Terras midfielder John Litherland’s Peugeot.

Magistrates banned Larner from driving for 18 months and fined him £400 for driving while over the limit.

They also endorsed his licence for the offence of driving without insurance and fined him a further £265 for taking the vehicle without the owner’s consent.

He was also also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Prosecutor Julian Lawrence told magistrates that on the day of the offence the defendant had been watching a match with friends and had drunk four or five pints of lager in the stadium’s bar.

Mr Lawrence said Larner took the keys to Mr Djeebet’s BMW without permission and drove it around the car park, hitting a stationary Peugeot that belonged to John Litherland.

The court heard the defendant then got out of the car and ran off but was later arrested by the police and gave a breath specimen.

Des Reynolds, mitigating, said committing the offence had been a ‘complete disaster’ for his client but that he deserved full credit for his guilty plea and co-operation with the police.

Mr Reynolds said Larner acknowledged he had behaved ‘stupidly’ and said he had been ‘egged on’ to drive the car by his friends.

Magistrates heard the BMW was being driven at low speed when it struck the Peugeot and the ‘situation then became very heated’ shortly after Weymouth FC players ‘emerged on the scene’.

Mr Reynolds said: “He’s not a big drinker.

“He had drunk several pints of lager and a couple of glasses of wine.

“He had not eaten that day and was very much the worse for drink.

“He accepts it was an incredibly stupid escapade by him.”

Magistrates were told the impact of his sentencing would be ‘quite severe’. Mr Reynolds said Larner was a self-employed builder who is married with three children and that two people were contracted to work for him.

Mr Reynolds said Larner was at the end of his first year as a self-employed builder and that he has not yet made a ‘great deal of money’.

Magistrates were also told Larner had not committed an offence for 10 years and had now lost his good character as a result of the new offence.