A drunk dad-of-two who had been out celebrating his birthday drove home from the pub and crashed into a parked car.

Stefan Ratcliffe, from Ashford, told police at the scene he had been a “complete idiot”, a court heard.

He had been downing drinks as he marked turning 51 - but decided to get behind the wheel rather than call a taxi, despite being just 10 minutes away from his home in Beaver Lane.

As he drove his Mini Countryman Cooper along his street he smashed into a car belonging to the son of one of his friends.

The police were called and Ratcliffe was asked to complete a roadside breath test. He blew a reading of 99 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35.

He was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving but despite trying to blow more readings back at the station, he then failed to comply with the rest of the intoxication procedure.

Ratcliffe was later charged with failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis and driving while unfit through drink. He admitted both offences when he appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, July 31.

Deputy District Judge Claire Luxford heard the crash happened on January 28.

Victoria Aked, prosecuting, told the court police had noticed that Ratcliffe was unsteady on his feet.

“Officers noted the smell of alcohol and he confirmed he was the driver,” she said.

“He said to officers, ‘I’ve crashed into my friend’s car’ and a drug test at the scene was negative.

“He then said, ‘I’m a complete idiot, I own up to all of it’ and signed the officer’s notebook to confirm he had said it.”

Ms Aked told the court that during the intoxication process at the police station, Ratcliffe “started messing officers around”.

“He would blow, then he would stop and blow again, then did a continuous blow and continued this many times for the second sample,” she said.

“He did this four times and officers thought he was trying to deceive them and not comply with the procedure.

“He was asked if there was any reason he couldn’t complete it and he replied, ‘No’.

“An impairment test was also completed and he was deemed impaired. During interview, he made no comment and was slumped on his chair and didn’t engage with officers.”

The judge also heard Ratcliffe accepted the prosecution’s case about him being unfit to drive. He also admitted he had made a silly mistake and could have easily taken a cab home.

However, she was also told that while he did fail to comply with the procedure, this was not deliberate. His explanation was that he was still quite intoxicated at the time and just didn’t understand the consequences of not providing as he had never been arrested before.

Judge Luxtford told Ratcliffe she would give him full credit for his early guilty pleas, but said he had made things worse by not complying with the procedure.

She added: “You’ve got yourself into a more serious position because of your actions.

“And then there was also the collision. It was a parked car - you were very fortunate it wasn’t worse.”

She placed Ratcliffe, who has no previous convictions, on a 12-month community order for both offences which will see him complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also banned from the road for 24 months and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £114 as well as £85 costs.

The judge ordered Ratcliffe to pay what he owed the court within 28 days.