Driver panicked and hid in bushes after driving off from accident scene

Ivan Vaskelevicius, 30 of Broxtowe Drive, pleaded guilty at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on Wednsday, to taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent,failing to stop after an accident, driving above the alcohol limit and without insurance or a license.

The court heard how Vaskelevicius reversed his Nissan Almera out of a junction and into a car in Shirebrook on June 26.

The motorist was about to turn left into Main Street, when a the defendant reversed out in to him and shunted him into a wall.

The Nissan was then driven at speed up King Edward Street after the crash at around 11pm. The complainant suffered pain in his knee and back after the collision.

Another car on the road turned and followed the Nissan, which was found abandoned outside Church Warsop Primary School.

Police found the defendant hiding in a bush nearby.

At the police station Vaskelevicius was given a breath test which he failed, giving a reading of 51mcg in 100ml of breath.

Vaskelevicius told police the Nissan belonged to the wife of an acquaintance.

The husband had driven her car with him as a passenger to a place they were both going to.

The husband had then got into another friend’s car and drove away, asking Vaskelevicius to return the car to his wife.

He said he had agreed to do so despite drinking a few cans of lager beforehand. He had not intended to drive that day and did not think the alcohol would affect him.

The defendant had taken a wrong turn, tried to manoeuvre the vehicle back in the correct direction and had collided with the stationary car.

He had panicked and drove off knowing he would be in trouble with the police.

Vaskelevicius, a married father of two had only been in the UK for six months and worked full time for the Transline Group.

He was sentenced to complete a 150 hour community order in 12 months, disqualified from driving for 15 months with £85 costs, £150 criminal court charge and £60 victim surcharge.