THIS was the scene after after a drink-driver wrecked his new car in a crash - after deciding to move it just 200 metres.

Tom Murfitt was more than three times the legal-drive limit when his £18,000 Vauxhall Astra smashed into a wall in Belmont Road, Southampton, and overturned.

Southampton magistrates were told that Murfitt had downed a bottle of wine shortly before the crash last month.

Sitla Mond, prosecuting, said the defendant was found to have 118 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

The court heard that Murfitt was staying with his uncle at the time. On the evening of the offence he was unable to park outside his uncle's house and left the vehicle behind St Denys railway station.

Caroline Palacio, in mitigation, said: "My client had a bottle of wine or so with a pizza. After his meal he went outside and noticed that three parking spaces had become available.

"He was concerned about leaving his vehicle in an unlit car park in a not very desirable area."

Miss Palacio said Murfitt called the police after the accident and waited for them to arrive.

She added that the defendant had only recently bought the car on higher purchase. The vehicle was written off in the crash but Murfitt would probably have to continue paying the instalments.

Referring to his decision to get behind the wheel she added: "This is a young man who behaved very foolishly and made a terrible mistake."

Murfitt, 21, of New Marsh House in The Marsh, Hythe, admitted driving with excess alcohol.

The presiding magistrate, Helen Gaskell, told him: "This was an excessive alcohol reading - it's not often in these courts that we see one as high as this.

"You made a catastrophic mistake - this is a massive learning curve for you. But you owned up and did all the right things."

Murfitt was handed a 12-month community order, disqualified from driving for two years, and told to complete 80 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a victim surcharge of £85.

Murfitt was told his driving ban would be reduced by 24 weeks if he completed a drink-drive rehabilitation course by July 21 next year.

Speaking after the case he said bought the car only a month before the accident - and was moving it just 200 metres when the crash happened.