A DRINK-DRIVING dad who was taking his son to a christening lost control of a car and ploughed into a tree, a court was told.

Burnley magistrates heard how 14-year-old Luke Craig was in hospital for several weeks after the smash in Mount Lane, Cliviger, on January 25.

His father Neal Mark Sheridan, 35, was also taken for treatment and blood tests showed he would have been over the limit at the time of the smash. The court also heard how Sheridan was full of remorse about the crash - and the consequences of his drinking the night before.

Sheridan, of Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, admitted driving with excess alcohol and no insurance.

The defendant, who is still on sick leave six months on, was fined £125, banned for a year and must pay £50 costs.

Carl Gaffney, prosecuting, told the court when police arrived at the accident scene, the defendant was in a bad physical state and had to be removed from the vehicle.

Officers allowed him to go to hospital, but smelled alcohol on his breath and got permission for the police surgeon to take blood tests.

The tests revealed 75 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80, but "back calculations" had been carried out and showed the reading would have been 120 microgrammes before the accident. Sheridan accepted at the time of the crash he would have been over the limit.

David Lawson, defending, said the case was not a classic drink driving offence and Sheridan had not got into his car knowing he was over the limit. He had been ignorant of the consequences of drinking the night before.

Sheridan was a single man and had been out socialising with friends in Barrowford and Burnley. He had then gone home, slept, got up and watched his son play football.

The defendant was driving through Cliviger to Worsthorne with his son on the way to a family christening. Sheridan claimed a car came around the bend and over the white lines, causing him to swerve.

Mr Lawson said Sheridan's son had been in a critical condition after the smash, but thankfully had pulled through.

The defendant was extremely remorseful about what happened and now appreciated the consequences of drinking the night before.

The case had been hanging over his head since January and Sheridan was filled with guilt and shame. Mr Lawson went on: "He has no previous convictions and the court proceedings are alien to him."