FOUR years behind bars doesn't seem like a high enough price to pay for ending a life.

Ghazanfar Mahmood got into his father's car after drinking in the park with his mates. An hour later he smashed into Alex Shoulder and killed him.

The facts speak for themselves and serve to remind us all that getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol ruins lives.

Alex was a bright student with everything to live for but his life was taken after a foolish decision taken by a naive young man who insisted he was okay to drive.

Mahmood has admitted his guilt from the start something he must be given some credit for. But the fact remains a friend told him he shouldn't drive but he did regardless.

Alex's death is the obvious tragedy in this case but there are many more.

Alex's dad, Tony, who raised two sons single handedly, has lost a son and a friend in an accident that will haunt him for life.

But Mahmood will also have to learn to live with the tragedy as he starts his prison sentence.

When the Vauxhall Cavalier he was driving struck Alex, Mahmood was just 20-years-old just a year older than the popular student.

Mahmood, now 21, will still be serving a sentence when he leaves jail. The death of Alex will be something that will remain imprinted on his character for life.

We can only hope that Mahmood finds a way of dealing with this terrible accident which has taken the life of young man and shattered his own.

Let this be a lesson to us all. Drinking and driving ends and wrecks lives. No-one is immune it could touch any of us.

If every motorist tempted to drive after a few pints stopped to think about Alex Shoulder, our streets would be a whole lot safer.