DEPRESSED Darius Wilkinson took his mum's car after downing six pints and drove it to a garage seven miles away even though he had not passed his driving test, a court heard.

Wilkinson drove his mum's Daewoo to buy tobacco from Tesco's garage in Amersham when he was caught by police.

The 21-year-old, of Ashlea Road, Chalfont St Peter, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and driving with no insurance when he appeared at Wycombe Magistrates Court on Friday.

After being spotted by a special constable, Wilkinson was given a breath test which showed he was twice the drink drive limit with a reading of 75 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35 microgrammes.

He was fined £100 for driving with excess alcohol and disqualified for two years, reduced by six months on completion of a drink-drive rehabilitation course.

For driving with no insurance he was ordered to pay a £50 fine and his licence would be back endorsed. For driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence there was no separate penalty but Wilkinson was ordered to pay £55 costs.