Teenage drink-driver in £16,000 wrecking spree

Jack Yates (19) sparked a string of calls to emergency services in the early hours of New Year’s Day after he took the Ford Focus hatchback without permission and was spotted zig-zagging down streets near to his home on Rowan Rise, Maltby.

Residents were awoken by the sound of collisions and some discovered their vehicles and property had been damaged when they went out to investigate, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Mrs Zaiban Alam, prosecuting, said that the first 999 call came in at around 1am after one resident awoke to see that a car had collided into the wall near to his home before driving off.

She said: “Mr Haywood inspected his own car and saw that it had been pushed forward into his daughter’s car.

“His van was later assessed as a write-off. His daughter’s car had sustained £2,200 worth of damage.”

At 1.15am, Rosemary Oxley was awoken by a bang and called the emergency services to report that a car had collided with the wall outside her home before crashing into her own car, pushing that into a neighbour’s boundary wall.

Mrs Alam said: “Her vehicle, she claimed, would be a write-off and worth around £2,000.”

Rowan Rise resident, Sarah Fells, saw Yates end his drunken drive moments later.

Mrs Alam said: “Miss Fells said she looked out and saw the car swerving in a zig-zag fashion down the road.

“The car crashed and she saw the airbags deploy before the driver got out and walked up the road in an unsteady fashion.”

Mrs Alam said that Yates refused to provide a sample of breath for alcohol analysis after police arrested him, but admitted that he had drunk two litres of cider and two cans of beer.

She added: “He said that he could recall driving his father’s car but that he could not recall going home for the keys or the route that he had taken.

“He accepted that he didn’t have a driving licence or insurance to drive the vehicle.

“The total cost of the damage caused on the night was £16,595.”

Yates pleaded guilty to charges relating to vehicle theft, drink driving, driving without a licence and criminal damage.

Mr Martin Robertshaw, mitigating, said: “The defendant’s father is in court today and although he is extremely angry about what happened on this particular occasion, he is prepared to forgive him.”

Mr Robertshaw said that his client had never been in trouble with the police in the past and had not had an alcoholic drink since the incident on January 1.

He added: “He had stolen his father’s car following a fall out with his girlfriend. Fortunately nobody was killed.”

Mr Recorder Sandeep Kainth handed Yates an eight-month jail sentence, suspended for a year.

He also disqualified Yates from driving for two years and ordered him to observe an electronically-monitored curfew and complete 180 hours of unpaid work.”