A CAR being driven by dad-to-be Paul Hamilton ended up in a tree after he celebrated the prospect of becoming a father, a court heard.

Hamilton, 22, of West View Crescent, Devizes, appeared before Kennet magistrates on Monday, charged with drink driving, and driving without a licence or insurance.

Richard Thomas, prosecuting, told the court police were called to the crash on the A4361 Avebury to Swindon road at Berwick Bassett at about 6.30pm on Saturday June 29. They found a white Vauxhall Astra hanging in a tree several feet above the ground. Three men were lying in the field though none of them was seriously injured.

Hamilton identified himself as the driver. He failed a roadside breath test and was arrested. At the police station he registered a level of 82 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35.

It transpired that Hamilton had neither a driving licence nor insurance. Tim Hammick, defending, said his client had gone shopping in Swindon with his brother and a friend. While there he found out he was going to be a father next February. On the way back, the three stopped off at a pub to celebrate.

They debated whether to get a taxi home but Hamilton had somehow ended up with the keys. Mr Hammick said: "He is not a driver. He got it completely wrong and should not have been behind the wheel."

Hamilton told the court he had once had a provisional licence he had been given as a present but it had been stolen and he had never bothered to replace it.

Hamilton was fined £1,200, reduced to £800 because of his early guilty plea, and disqualified from driving for 27 months, though this will be reduced to 21 months if he completes a drink drivers rehabilitation course.

He was also fined £100 for not having insurance and ordered to pay £55 costs.