A FLORIST who crashed into a York house after a drinking session has avoided jail after the owner of the property he damaged defended him.

Andrew James Hall said he could not remember why he drove his Ford Mondeo home while over the drink-drive limit on the night he smashed into the ground floor of a house in Moor Lane, Haxby.

The 35-year-old, of Kirkcroft, Wigginton, who co-runs his family’s business Wigginton Road Nurseries and has a stall at Newgate Market, walked away from the scene in the early hours of April 11 believing the property was for sale and empty, but was later arrested near his home.

He was banned from driving for 30 months and ordered to do 210 hours unpaid work after York magistrates heard supporters, including the damaged house’s owner Jacob Verhoef, had written character references asking for leniency.

The crash woke a tenant living upstairs, although the ground floor was empty at the time, and Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, said: “She found the Mondeo had collided with the front bedroom, causing extensive damage, and saw somebody walking away at a fast pace.

“When police went to Hall’s address and he walked towards them, he said he had driven his car into a house and was going to ring them. He had drunk almost three-and-a-half times the legal alcohol limit.”

Colin Byrne, defending Hall, told the magistrates: “I ask you to give him a chance because this is an isolated matter and totally out of character. He is well-regarded and it is unusual for a reference to be provided by the owner of the property which was damaged. He has no recollection of why he got into his vehicle because he had arranged to drive to the pub, get a taxi home and for his brother to take him to collect the car the next day, but he accepts absolute responsibility.”

Hall, who admitted drink-driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident, was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and will be supervised for a year. His ban will be cut by seven months if he completes a drink-drivers’ rehabilitation course.