A TEENAGER who had an argument with his father in the early hours of the morning, crashed the vehicle he was driving while being over twice the drink-drive limit, Skipton magistrates heard.

Archie Paxton, now 20, of Church Lane, Elslack, tipped his employer's VW Caddy van on its side in Church Street, Gargrave, on January 18 this year at around 5.40am, trapping him inside.

Prosecutor Melanie Ibbotson said police officers attended the scene and called an ambulance. Paxton was breath tested at the roadside and was found to be in drink. He was taken to hospital for a check-up.

"Officers attended the hospital and obtained a blood test which gave a reading of 186 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrammes."

Mrs Ibbotson said in interview the following day, Paxton declined to answer questions.

He was of previous good character.

Defending, John Mewies said he was unsure why his client would not answer questions, other than the advice by the duty solicitor he saw was to make no comment.

Mr Mewies said Paxton was from an 'eminently respectable family' and that last year his world had been 'turned upside down' because his parents had separated acrimoniously. The situation had led to divorce and his client had taken it badly.

He said he was living with his mother in Elslack and on the day in question had agreed to spend the weekend with his father who lived in Gargrave.

"His father had arranged a small family party to get him back into the family way of things. He admitted he had a lot of drink during the course of the evening but had had no intention of driving.

"He had an argument with his father and took the foolish decision to leave his father's house in the early hours of the morning."

Mr Mewies said Paxton, who worked in sales, was driving his employer's vehicle. He said his employers thought highly of him and in anticipation of him losing his licence, moved him into an office administration position.

Pleading guilty to the drink-driving charge, Paxton was disqualified from driving for 20 months and was fined £265, was ordered to pay a surcharge of £32 and court costs of £85.

He was offered the chance to take the drink-drive rehabilitation course which would reduce his sentence by 20 weeks if completed successfully.