A drink driver who crashed his van into a wall was caught by police as he locked the vehicle while he walked away from the wreckage.

Ellis Green was at the wheel of his Mercedes Vito van in West Street, Gravesend, when it careered off the road on September 23 last year.

Green, of Pepys Way, Strood, was charged with drink driving and admitted the offence when he appeared at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on January 22.

Victoria Aked, prosecuting, said: “It was a Saturday night at about 11.30pm and [police] officers were in West Street over an unrelated matter when they heard a loud bang.

“They then got a call on their radio to go to the scene of the crash after it was reported the driver had been seen walking away.

“The wall had collapsed under the impact and he was seen stepping out of the vehicle and began walking up West Street.

“A witness then started taking video of him walking away.

“But then he walked back and tried to start the vehicle before fleeing again and then went back to the vehicle to get a red bag.

“And as he started to walk away again the officers saw the flash of lights as it locked.

“It was three times he had returned to the car, on the second occasion he tried to start it.”

As they tried to catch up with him, police felt he was intoxicated and as they spoke with him, he slurred his words.

The 26-year-old was arrested but taken taken to Darent Valley Hospital to get checked over as the airbags in the wrecked vehicle had been deployed.

While there, he admitted he should not have been driving but when the officer wrote Green’s comments in his notebook, he refused to sign it.

A blood test was taken and Green gave a reading of 128 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Magistrates were told Green had no previous convictions and a drug swipe at the time also proved negative, but an aggravating feature of the offence was that an accident had occurred and he had walked away.

Defending himself, Green, a kitchen fitter, told magistrates he’d had a few beers with friends after football.

He added: “I was going to get an Uber home but my phone died and I stupidly decide to drive. I was in shock and that’s why I was walking away.”

Magistrates told Green he was lucky he had not killed anyone when he crashed and banned him from driving for 15 months.

He was also fined £640 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £256 and £85 court costs. If he completes a drink-driving course his ban will be reduced by a quarter.