Drink driver ran from scene of collision in Sunderland street and left his passenger to deal with the aftermath

Peter Brewer, 32, of Canon Cockin Street in Hendon, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, failing to stop following an accident, driving without insurance and without a licence when he appeared before South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard the incident happened on Boxing Day last year after a recently bereaved Brewer had been to visit his mother’s grave earlier in the day.

Eve McDonnell, prosecuting, said the injured party was at home in Ancona Street in the city at around 11pm when she and her husband heard a loud bang in the street.

The woman’s husband went outside to find the defendant had crashed into the back of his wife’s car, a Ford Focus, which has had to be written off.

She said he saw a female get out of the passenger side of a Citroen and a male get out of the driver’s side.

Ms McDonnell said: “The female walked towards him and the driver runs off down the street away from the collision.”

In her witness statement the female passenger, who is the partner of Brewer’s cousin, said he had visited her home with his new car and asked if she would go for a drive in it.

Ms McDonnell, said: “She describes his driving as very poor and she thought he was driving too fast.”

She said she was shocked by his behaviour and after he ran off she spoke to the people who owned the car giving details and then walked home where she found Brewer sitting in her dining room.

When the police arrived Brewer confessed he had had four cans of lager before driving the car and was found to have 66 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, with the limit being 35.

Gerald Armstrong, defending, said: “Shortly before the incident he was visiting his mother’s grave at the crematorium in Sunderland.”

The case was adjourned until March 18 for a pre-sentence report.