A roofing contractor has been banned from driving after crashing his car on a roundabout in Chatham while over the legal limit.

John Benardout, 60, crashed a silver Mazda he was driving at the roundabout on Maidstone Road, near Toys R Us store near Horsted Retail Park during the early hours of one morning.

Benardout, who had earlier drunk three pints of Stella, abandoned the car where it had crashed and walked off towards the Asda supermarket about half a mile up the road.

However, officers in a passing patrol car spotted the damaged Mazda and stopped to investigate.

They found the keys of the vehicle were no longer in the ignition and although there was damage to the offside front part of the car, the officers could see there had been no damage done to the ignition mechanism.

They spotted Benardout, of Penenden Heath Road, Maidstone, walking towards the Blue Bell Hill direction and caught up with him in the Asda store car park.

Officers could smell alcohol on Benardout and he admitted to them the keys he had in his hand belonged to the crashed Mazda and he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

When Benardout, a father and grandfather, was given a breath test he gave a reading of 59 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35.

He appeared before Magistrates in Medway earlier today (Monday) and pleaded guilty to the offence.

The court also heard Benardout, had been driving for 40 years and had no previous drink-driving convictions and at the time of the offence, which happened in July. His solicitor told magistrates that Benardout he had recently split with his wife of 30 years and was not in a good place and claimed she had been having an affair.

Addressing the bench himself, Benardout said: “I probably knew I should not have driven.

“I took the chance and here I am today.”

Magistrates banned Benardout from driving for 16 months and fined him £500 for the offence.

He was also ordered to pay £235 court costs.