A motorist who crashed his car after drinking, then drove off, has been fined £1,600 and banned from the roads for six months.

Christopher Reilly pleaded guilty to careless driving and failing to stop after an accident, but was not charged with drink-driving, as he was below the limit by the time he was breathalysed.

Prosecuting advocate Peter Connick told the court that Reilly was driving a BMW 120 in Willaston on June 21, at 11.30pm.

At Barrule Road, he went the wrong way down a one-way street and hit a Nissan Juke and a Honda SH125 scooter.

Reilly, who is 45, drove away but residents described a white BMW leaving the scene.

The next day, at 5.30pm, he went to police headquarters and reported the crash.

He told police he didn’t stop because he had drunk six or seven pints, and said he knew he would have failed the breathalyser test.

He was breathalysed at that time, but the result was negative.

Mr Connick said that the damaged vehicles were being dealt with via insurers.

The court heard that Reilly, who lives at Cronk y Berry Avenue in Douglas, had no previous convictions.

Defence advocate Paul Rodgers said that the offences were entirely out of character and had been a gross error of judgement on his client’s part.

Mr Rodgers handed in letters of reference for Reilly and said that it was strong mitigation that he had self-reported the offences, otherwise they may not have been resolved.

The advocate said that full details of when the alcohol was consumed had not been provided, so the level of alcohol was an open question.

Mr Rodgers asked the court to treat the incident as a one-off, and to impose points rather than a ban.

Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood fined the defendant £800 for careless driving and £800 for failing to report the accident.

He was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs and will pay all amounts within two months.