A DRINK driver flipped his car and then tried to recover it with a mechanical digger.

Alexander Henry Taylor, aged 19, was driving back from a night of drinking in Tenbury Wells when his car overturned in Bromyard Road.

The agricultural driver left the scene and later came back in a JCB to collect his Seat Leon.

But police caught Taylor when he returned to the crash on Sunday, October 29.

Stephen Scully, defending, said: "He slightly lost control and managed to flip [his car] over and land it on its roof.

"He then phoned a friend who picked him up and took him home three miles down the road. What he does next is almost unbelievable.

"He decides to get his JCB vehicle, from where he works, to get the car. When he gets there police are in attendance, they probably can't believe it either.

"I put it down to youthful immaturity and perhaps the alcohol, and I don't know if he slightly injured himself.

"I'm not sure if a bang to his head prompted him to do what he did."

Mr Scully said his client accepted that he was foolish to try and drive back home in the first place.

The solicitor said the incident was completely out of character for the defendant.

He added that the consequences of Taylor's actions will have a 'massive impact' on his life - due to his job as an agricultural driver.

Kerry Lovegrove, prosecuting, said a witness stopped to speak with Taylor after spotting his overturned vehicle.

The female witness spoke with Taylor and noticed that he was drunk.

She said he asked her for a lift and then became aggressive when she refused, prompting her to leave.

Police officers were called to the scene and they spotted the defendant driving towards them in a JCB digger.

They noticed that he smelt of alcohol and a test revealed he had 53 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Probation worker Mike Weston said Taylor recognised that his actions were stupid.

Mr Weston added that the defendant thought he would be able to stay with a friend in Tenbury Wells but this did not happen.

By midnight he had consumed four or five drinks and made the 'rash decision' to drive home, according to Mr Weston.

Keith Stokes-Smith, chairman of the magistrates bench, said: "It's rare we have someone in court who's turned their car over by drink driving.

"Then you think it's okay to get a JCB. There's a catalogue of errors and misjudgements and foolishness.

"Certainly you are very immature."

Taylor, of Church Cottage, Wolferlow, Bromyard, pleaded guilty to two charges of drink driving and was given a 16 month driving ban at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday (November 16).

The defendant, who had no previous convictions, was also ordered to pay a £100 fine, £135 in court costs and an £85 victim surcharge and obey a 10pm to 5am curfew for 12 weeks.