DRUNKEN friends were arrested after sharing the driving on a remarkable boozy cruise from Newmarket to Ipswich.Graham Findlay, 45, and 21-year-old Dominic Hickman both admitted drink driving.

DRUNKEN friends were arrested after sharing the driving on a remarkable boozy cruise from Newmarket to Ipswich.

Graham Findlay, 45, and 21-year-old Dominic Hickman both admitted drink driving.

And Findlay, of Fitzroy Street, Newmarket, faces the possibility of jail after magistrates heard he was nearly four times the legal limit.

Stephen Colman, prosecuting at South-East Suffolk Magistrates Court, said Findlay took the wheel for the start of the journey.

But when it became apparent he was too drunk to drive, he handed over to uninsured and unlicensed Hickman, of no fixed abode, for the rest of the trip.

Hickman then crashed the car in West End Road, Ipswich and was also found to be over the limit – clocking up 51mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, compared to the 35mg limit.

Findlay then added to his earlier drink driving in Newmarket by taking the wheel while the car was pushed to a safer spot by the side of the road.

When he was breath tested, the result was a whopping 134mg.

Mr Colman said the pair were picked up after the New Year's Eve crash, although they swapped clothes in an attempt to confuse potential witnesses.

Hickman admitted drink driving and driving without a licence or insurance.

Findlay admitted two counts of drink driving and permitting his unlicensed and uninsured friend to drive the car.

Mark Holt, mitigating, said the pair had shown some common sense in swapping the very drunk Findlay for the less drunk Hickman.

But he admitted the journey was not essential and was merely to make a social call on friends in Ipswich.

He said neither Findlay or Hickman had ever recorded a driving offence.

Magistrates banned Hickman from driving for 15 months and fined him £150.

But they adjourned Findlay's case for pre-sentence reports because they said his offence was so serious he could go to jail.