Man Leaps From The Path Of Drink Driver As He Crashes Convertible Bentley

21 November 2017, 11:50 | Updated: 28 October 2019, 15:21

The pensioner has admitted drinking five or six glasses of wine.

A man has leapt from the path of a convertible Bentley as it crashes in a pub car park, after trying to take the keys away from a drunk driver.

CCTV caught Danny Jackson repeatedly accelerating and decelerating before launching into a row of parked cars, knocking down a connecting wall and very nearly crushing a bystander.

Members of the public had tried to take away the pensioner's keys, who has now been jailed and banned from the roads.

Sarah Slater, prosecuting, told the court the offence took place in the car park of the White Lion, in Sawley, at 7.20pm on June 24.

She said: “The defendant had been in the pub drinking. He went outside and got in his Bentley vehicle and was surrounded by people trying to stop him from driving it.”

“One of them said they were trying to get the keys from him [Jackson] to stop him from driving.

“He maintains he got in the car to put the roof back up and that people were trying to get the keys off him.”

Mr Jackson said he thought the people were trying to steal his car, which is worth upwards of £150,000.

Miss Slater said police went to Jackson’s home where, almost three hours after the incident, he blew a reading that was twice the legal limit.

In court, Jackson pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

In his interview, he “accepted what had happened but said he panicked when people surrounded the car”, thinking someone was going to steal the vehicle.

Judge Peter Cooke said: "It’s a very unlikely car-jacking. How can someone confuse ‘come on mate, don’t be stupid, don’t drive the car’ with someone trying to steal it?”

Watch the CCTV at the top of this page.