A LEARNER driver was caught drink-driving after crashing into a wall while doing a favour for a friend who was too drunk to drive, a court heard.

Today, Joseph Murray, of Tacon Road, Felixstowe, is disqualified from driving for 22 months and must pay a total of �345 in fines and court costs.

The 23-year-old was more than twice the drink-drive limit when the accident happened.

Murray admitted driving with excess alcohol, driving with no insurance, and driving otherwise in accordance with a licence, when he appeared before South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Colette Griffiths said the incident occurred in High Road West, Felixstowe, at around 5.10am on May 5 while Murray was driving a VW Golf Cabriolet belonging to a female friend.

Police received a call from the female owner to say there had been an accident in High Road West. When police arrived she was at the scene and pointed out Murray.

Murray told the officers: “I’m in trouble. I’ve done something wrong.”

A resident’s wall had been damaged.

A breath test showed Murray had 89 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg. Jeremy Kendall, mitigating, told the court his client apologised for the incident and was a provisional licence holder.

Murray worked part-time behind the bar at a caravan park and had been working on the night of the crash.

Mr Kendall said Murray had consumed a couple of drinks after work and had decided to drive the cabriolet’s female owner home as she was too intoxicated to drive herself.