A Tewkesbury man who crashed his car into a traffic light control box after drinking five pints of Guinness has been has been banned from driving for more than three years and ordered to pay almost £900 in fines and costs.

Ronald Keller, 61, of Mitton Way, Tewskesbury, pleaded guilty yesterday to driving with 55 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath on October 19 this year. The legal limit is 35mcgs.

Prosecutor Andrea Edwards told Cheltenham Magistrates that a woman asleep at home in Mitton Way was woken at 2.20am by the sound of a vehicle crashing, followed by a grinding noise.

"The witness said she looked out of the window and saw a man getting out of the damaged car and heard him tell his woman passenger to also get out," said Ms Edwards.

"Police officers patrolling the area a few minutes later spotted the abandoned Toyota Yaris which had crashed into a pedestrian signal control box. The officers went to the nearby address of the registered owner where they met Keller in the building's communal area.

"He immediately admitted driving the car and said that he had drunk five pints of Guinness in the local pub and had walked home.

"He told officers that his wife had then phoned him and asked to be picked up. Instead of saying no he agreed and on the way back home he was having an argument with her when the collision happened."

The court was told that Keller had previously been convicted of drink driving in 2010.

The magistrates banned Keller from driving for 39 months and fined him £710. They also ordered him to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and a victim surcharge of £71.