A WAREHOUSE worker who crashed his BMW into a parked Jaguar before fleeing when a resident checked if he was OK has been banned from driving for more than a year.
Billy Wotherspoon, of The Street, Weeley, had drunk five cans of beer in a nearby park before he got behind the wheel of his BMW and tried to drive home.
As he did so, he crashed into a parked Jaguar which was shunted into a resident’s front garden.
When the resident realised what had happened, they came outside to see if Wotherspoon, 25, had been hurt in the collision.
Natalie Roberts, prosecuting, said Wotherspoon’s BMW only had three working wheels after the crash, but still decided to drive away from the scene.
She said: “Wotherspoon was seen walking towards his address and was arrested and said he had been driving the car at the time of the incident.”
Wotherspoon was then checked in hospital before being taken to a police station where he gave a ‘no comment’ interview.”
On Tuesday, he appeared in Colchester Magistrates' Court dressed in a white shirt and grey suit; he admitted admitted one charge each of dangerous driving, driving a car whilst over the alcohol limit, and failing to stop after a road accident.
Mr McKem, mitigating, told the court how Wotherspoon – who works in a Carteks warehouse – was “extremely apologetic” and fled the scene in a panic after he realised he was being filmed.
He said: “We have heard this is a young man, 25 years old, with no previous convictions.
“He had a few tins of beer in a local park near to where he lives – at some point, he made a foolish decision.
“Because of the short distance [between the park and his address] he thought he could make it home, and we can see that foolish decision-making here.
“He was about to exchange details with the victim but someone else came out and started to film him – he simply panicked and thought the best thing was to get home and speak to his parents."
Magistrates ordered Wotherspoon to undertake 250 hours of unpaid work over the next year and disqualified him from driving for 20 months.
Wotherspoon must also pay £259 in costs.
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