A drink-driver who crashed a company car through a brick wall and landed upside down next to a canal before fleeing the scene has been handed a 19-month driving ban.

Paul Pollard, 60, told Nottinghamshire Police he thought he had fallen asleep and his foot slipped on to the accelerator when he was parked in a car park in Great Northern Close, Nottingham, in the early hours of August 19 after a night of drinking in the city centre.

He told officers he had gone out drinking after attending Nottingham Forest’s fixture against Sheffield United at the City Ground, where he had also been drinking in a hospitality box.

He said he had three pints of lager after the match before driving to the Leonardo Hotel, off London Road, where he had booked a room for the night.

Nottinghamshire Police said CCTV showed him parked in a car park near to the hotel with the lights of the BMW, which was a company car, on and the engine still running.

Just after 3am, footage captured the BMW suddenly accelerating forwards, crashing through a wall and flipping over on to a path next to Nottingham canal.

Pollard, of Preston Close, Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire, fled, but was found nearby by officers and arrested, after witnesses called 999.

He registered 97 on a roadside breath test, almost three times the legal limit of 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, and a subsequent blood sample gave a reading of 141 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.

Pollard told police he felt “terrible” about what happened and pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving without due care and attention.

He was given a 19-month driving ban after his case was heard at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on December 5.

He was also fined £807 and told to pay a £323 surcharge and £85 costs.

Pc Katie Bradshaw, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Pollard showed absolutely no regard for other people’s safety when he got behind the wheel while over the drink-drive limit.

“In this case he was parked up, but still managed to crash through a wall and on to a canal path, leaving the rear of his vehicle hanging precariously over the Nottingham Canal.

“He is exceptionally lucky to have escaped with minor injuries.”