PICTURES: Drink-driver avoids jail after 14-car crash in Portsmouth

Dave Newnes, 35, of Tudor Crescent, Cosham, caused havoc when he crashed a BMW X5 on January 26 in his road. A test revealed he was almost double the drink-drive limit, with 150 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the legal limit is 80mg. Magistrates imposed a 24-prison sentence suspended for a year. He only pleaded on the day of his trial at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court. He must do 25 days of rehabilitation activities. Newnes admitted driving without insurance and failing to stop after an accident. He damaged a VW Beetle, Renault Clio, two Ford Focus cars, a Hyundai, two Mini cars, a Peugeot 107, three Vauxhall Corsa cars, a Jaguar S-Type, and a VW Polo. At the time, Rian Qureshi, 28, of Tudor Crescent, said: ‘I was woken up by a loud bang. ‘I looked out of the window and a BMW was on the pavement and into a lamppost. ‘It was crashed next to Highbury College.’ Lewis O’Connor’s Vauxhall was damaged. He said: ‘There were a lot of police cars here last night. ‘There’s £2,500 worth of damage to my car.’ Chunks of residents’ cars were scattered across the pavements and roads with some wreckage under a bent lamppost. Courtney Vychodil said: ‘I didn’t hear anything but this morning when I came out to put a few things in my car that’s when I noticed the damage and was told by a neighbour what happened. ‘Fortunately my car got away with only a few scrapes.’ Newnes was banned from driving for 20 months with £200 prosecution costs and a £115 victim surcharge to pay.