Ashfield coach mechanic just over the limit when he collided with parked cars

Lee Hikin was driving a white transit van on Dale Lane in Blidworth when he hit an Audi and a Hyundai, at 10.45pm on July 6, said prosecutor Lynn Bickley.

The front of his van was caved in and the windscreen was cracked while the Audi's bumper and the Hyundai's rear nearside panel were damaged.

A breath test revealed he had 45 microgrammes of alcohol when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He told police he had dropped off his aunt after watching the England match in a pub and was driving home when his girlfriend rang.

"I have had a drink, simple," he told police. "I shouldn't have bent down to pick up the phone."

Paige Tugby, mitigating, said Hikin, of previous good character, lost control when he bent down to stop the phone from ringing and wasn't going to answer it.

References described Hikin, who has worked as a coach driver and mechanic for 25 years, as being "one of life's good people" who "goes out of his way to help others."

"He accepts his wrong doing and wants to assure the courts he won't be back," said Ms Tugby.

Hikin, aged 47, of Forest Road, Annesley Woodhouse, admitted drink driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Tuesday.

He was disqualified for 12 months but a rehabilitation course could reduce the ban by 25 per cent.

He was fined £184 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £74 surcharge.