THE driver of a 93 ton crane crashed into a lamp post after drinking cans of lager during a 145 mile journey to deliver the giant vehicle from Wales to South Devon.

Ethan Christopher was two and a half times the drink drive limit after police stopped the bright yellow £2 million crane in Dartmouth Road, Paignton, on the evening of May 1 this year.

Worried motorists had called the police after seeing the crane veering across the road, clipping kerbs, and knocking down a lamppost and narrowly missing a car and a motorcyclist.

A driving instructor followed the crane and used his dashcam to record Christopher as he went through a red light and almost swerved off the road.

Police found a pile of empty lager cans in the footwell of the cab and he failed a breath test with a reading of 94 microgrammes, the limit being 35. 

He worked for his family’s plant hire company in Bridgend and had relapsed after a two week absence from alcohol during which he had attended meetings with Alcoholics Anonymous. 

Christopher, aged 26, of Aldergrove Road, Porth, near Bridgend, admitted dangerous driving, drink driving, and failing to stop after an accident, and was jailed for ten months, suspended for 18 months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He was banned from driving for two and a half years, ordered to take an extended retest, ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work, put on an alcohol monitoring tag for 90 days and told to pay £340 costs.

The judge told him: 'This is as serous a case of dangerous driving as one can imagine. It is a miracle there wasn’t more damage or that a motorist or pedestrian was not killed. You were driving in a terribly dangerous manner.

'You were driving a heavy duty crane that weighed more than 90 tons from Wales to South Devon and it seems you started to drink alcohol and continued as you were driving. You were heavily intoxicated.

'When you were stopped, a number of empty lager cans were found in the cab. You showed a flagrant disregard for the law on drinking and driving.

'I have dealt with many cases of drinking and driving but I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with one of drinking whilst driving to a point of such intoxication. This was a prolonged course of bad driving when your ability to drive was grossly impaired.

'The public is extremely fortunate that you did not end up killing someone.'

Miss Philippa Harper, prosecuting, said drivers called the police after seeing the crane driving erratically and demolishing a lamp post in Preston Downs Road, Paignton on May 1.

Christopher had left the depot in Bridgend at 3 pm and been drinking as he drove to Devon. He initially denied it when he was arrested but soon admitted that he had consumed the lager from the empty cans in his cab.

Miss Victoria Maud, defending, said Christopher works for a firm run by his parents and has recently bought his first home with his partner. He had sought help for a drink problem which he attributed to stress.

He had been abstinent for two weeks but relapsed that day. He has glowing references and retains the support of his partner and family.