A St Florence man who drunkenly pranged his car on his way home from Tenby and then failed to stop for the police has been given a lengthy driving ban.

Twenty-nine-year-old Geraint Huw Tuxworth-Jones, of The Court Yard, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to driving his Vauxhall Astra after exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol; failing to stop his vehicle after a road accident; and failing to stop when required by police.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that the incident occurred shortly before midnight on March 10, when officers returning to Tenby police station passed Mr. Tuxworth-Jones in his vehicle along Marsh Road.

“They saw the vehicle coming towards them in excess of the speed limit and with its hazard lights on. It also sounded like the vehicle had a flat tyre,” he explained.

It transpires that Mr. Tuxworth-Jones had hit a barrier on Lower Park Road causing one of the front tyres to puncture, but he continued his journey and officers followed him along Marsh Road, before he turned at the junction by the leisure centre towards the Clicketts, where he then nearly mounted a roadside verge.

“Officers illuminated their vehicle’s lights, but Mr. Tuxworth-Jones did not pull over and continued on the road towards Gumfreston, where there is quite a sharp blind corner, which he took on the wrong side of the road,” continued Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

“He was only doing about 20 to 30 mph and part of the reason was that one of the front tyres was deflated.” 

Officers were instructed to drop back worried that a chase would cause a problem and were told to head to the registered keeper of the vehicle’s address in St Florence.

“At this point though, a little further up the road, Mr. Tuxworth-Jones’ car came to a halt at a sweeping bend by the dinosaur park.

“The front wheel had practically fractured off and for the last 100 metres of his journey, the defendant had been driving with one wheel just on alloy spokes it would seem, indicated by the marks on the road,” added Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

Mr. Tuxworth-Jones was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and failing to stop.

He told officers ‘I’m sorry’ before being taken to the police station where he gave a reading of 86 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

When interviewed, Mr. Tuxworth-Jones said that he’d been out in Tenby and had a few beers in a couple of pubs, and then a gin and lemonade.

He ended his night with a kebab, before realising that he’d run out of money for a taxi, before he took the ‘stupid decision’ to drive home.

Defence solicitor Katy Hanson told the court that Mr. Tuxworth-Jones who was married with two children, had not previous convictions.

“This is something clearly very out of character for him, and he is very remorseful.

“He didn’t realise police officers were trying to pull him over and then panicked,” she said.

Magistrates disqualified Mr. Tuxworth-Jones from driving for 20 months and also handed him a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work and a 15-day rehabilitation activity.

Six penalty points were also added to his licence, and he was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and an £85 victim surcharge.