A DRINK driver took a company van without permission and wrote it off - causing more than £12,000 damage.

The authorised driver of the vehicle was unaware that asbestos worker Stephen Keen, 32, had taken the vehicle from a hotel car park on Hallowe’en and crashed it into the back of another van in Rawcliffe, said Gabrielle Wilks, prosecuting.

Keen drove off from the scene of the collision, but the other van driver followed him until Keen stopped. Police were called and arrested the 32-year-old.

The drink driver had previous similar convictions, said the prosecution barrister at York Crown Court.

Keen, of Waterpump Court, Northampton, pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without consent, drink driving, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, failure to stop after an accident and possessing cannabis.

He was given a 10-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months on condition he does 15 days’ rehabilitative activities and 100 hours’ unpaid work. He was also banned from driving for three years.

Ms Wilks said Keen and a colleague travelled to York to carry out some work for an asbestos removal company on October 31, with the colleague driving the company van.

Keen was not allowed to drive it because he didn’t have a driving licence. He left the colleague at their hotel, saying he was going to get something to eat. The colleague thought he was going to a pub next door.

But at 10pm, the police woke him to tell him what Keen had done.

Keen had crashed into the back of the second van as it was waiting to turn out of a road in Rawcliffe. He caused £7,852 damage to the company van and £4,252 damage to the second van.

He had then driven off, and the second van had followed him.

When police found him, Keen gave a breath test reading of 61 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit in a breath test is 35. A blood test taken later at hospital gave a reading of 88 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit in a blood test is 80 milligrams.

In a police interview, Keen claimed he could not remember various matters about the evening because of his state of intoxication. He said he was “in and out of consciousness” during the collision and accused the other van driver of assaulting him.

Judge Simon Hickey said both the company and the other van driver would have suffered loss of work and inconvenience as a result of the damage to their vehicles.

Rachel Webster, for Keen, said: “He is deeply remorseful and ashamed of his actions.” Keen had formally apologised to the owner of the asbestos company and his colleague for the distress they may have been caused.