A boozing Beckenham restaurant manager who crashed his car in the high street, took off and then continued drinking in his vehicle has been banned from driving for 40 months.

Mehmet Bosnak mounted the pavement and smashed his Land Rover into railings on Beckenham High Street on April 22 at around 9.35pm.

He then put the 4x4  in reverse and left, heading up Village Way before stopping, staggering out of his vehicle to examine the damage and then driving off again.

Prosecutor Jonathan Efemini told Bromley Magistrates' Court today (May 21): "He continued to drive the car. He did so in a zig zag motion and at times was on the wrong side of the road."

After stopping the car again, the 40-year-old was discovered by police with the windows down, the lights on and the ignition running.

The dad-of-three later told probation officers he had a "high level of shame and embarrassment" over the incident, which happened after he had sat drinking in a park for several hours, trying to avoid an escalating argument with his wife.

Bosnak then went back to his Stone Park Avenue home and sat in his car before driving to an off licence to buy more booze so he could drink inside the vehicle.

He was one his way back to speak to his wife when the accident happened. Afterwards, he told probation, he drank yet more alcohol while sitting in the car.

When police breathalysed him, they found he was more than three times over the legal limit.

Asked if he had anything to say, Bosnak, speaking through a Turkish interpreter and representing himself, told the court: "I apologise."

But, disqualifying him from driving for 28 months and imposing a 12-month community order, Judge King told him: "You were driving along a high street. This is a busy area where pedestrians are legitimately walking around.

"Because you were so drunk, you crashed into a railing on the side of the road and it's only by luck that the consequences were not more serious for you and for other people in the area at that time."

Bosnak had admitted driving a motor vehicle while over the alcohol limit and failing to stop after a road accident.