, of Bath Road, Felixstowe, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol in his system after crashing his grey Honda Civic into the sign on a roundabout near the B1079 Grundisburgh Road at Woodbridge.

, of Bath Road, Felixstowe, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol in his system after crashing his grey Honda Civic into the sign on a roundabout near the B1079 Grundisburgh Road at Woodbridge.

South East Suffolk magistrates in Ipswich banned Tyczewski from driving for 20 months after they heard he was twice the legal limit.

Tyczewski, a Polish immigrant, had been driving north along the A12 at about 9.10pm on Boxing Day when he lost control and crashed into the sign.

Police found him beside his car and they noticed he smelled strongly of alcohol and his eyes were red.

The 40-year-old admitted that he had been drinking and a roadside breath test proved positive.

He was taken to Woodbridge police station where a further test showed he had 81micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

Speaking through an interpreter during the hearing at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court, Tyczewski said: “I was on my way to see some elderly friends of mine. The lady had to go to hospital. She is 90 and I wanted to say goodbye.

“On an impulse and without thinking I decided to drive. The driving conditions were difficult and the car skidded.”

In disqualifying him from driving, the magistrates hearing the case gave Tyczewski credit for his guilty plea.

Magistrate Vicki Sears, chairman of the bench, told the father-of-one: “It is a very high reading, you were more than twice the legal limit in this country.”

She fined him £200 and ordered him to pay £34 in court costs.

Tyczewski was offered a drink driver rehabilitation course which, if completed, would reduce his driving ban to 15 months.