A MAN who had drunk vodka and taken tablets blacked out and crashed his car.

Blackburn magistrates heard Thomas Robert Aspin ended up in hospital alongside the driver of the car he had hit head on.

And after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act he was now rebuilding his life which had been at an all-time low.

Aspin, 37, of Arnold Close, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

He was fined £350 with £85 costs and banned from driving for three years.

Andy Robinson, prosecuting, said the collision occurred at 8.40am on Haslingden Road, close to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

The driver of the other vehicle had slowed because of a bus turning left in front of him when an Audi came straight at him.

The two drivers were taken to hospital together. The driver of the other car had damage to the tendons in his hand and his car was written off.

“The defendant apologised to him on several occasions,” said Mr Robinson.

Richard Prew, defending, said his client had been at a low ebb at the time of the incident.

“His 15-year marriage had broken down and he wasn’t thinking clearly,” said Mr Prew.

“He had taken some vodka and some pills and he had every intention of taking his own life. He was taking the car to leave it at his wife’s home and he thinks he blacked out.”

Mr Prew said Aspin and his wife were now talking about the future.