A MAN apologised to magistrates after taking and crashing his friend’s car following a drinking session.

Joshua Benjamin Hunter, of Cambridge Road, Dorchester, had to be freed from the car by firefighters after it flipped on to its side.

Prosecutor Nicola Reece told Weymouth magistrates that Hunter, 21, took his friend’s car and keys in the early hours of the morning of January 30 after the pair had been drinking alcohol the previous night.

She said Hunter took the car so he could go to Beaminster to see his girlfriend.

She added: “Mr Hunter lost control while he was travelling northbound on the A3066.

“Police officers attended at 4.40am as did the ambulance.

“The fire brigade attended to remove Mr Hunter from the vehicle and he was taken to Dorset County Hospital.”

Mrs Reece added that Hunter’s blood alcohol levels were 130 micrograms of alcohol in 100 ml of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Hunter previously pleaded guilty to drink-driving, taking a vehicle without consent and damaging it while in his possession and to using a car without insurance.

He told magistrates: “I want to apologise for doing it. It was wrong and it was dangerous.”

Magistrates sentenced Hunter to 120 hours’ unpaid work in the community and he was ordered to pay £300 compensation and £85 costs.

He was banned from driving for 16 months.