PRESSURES in the home and at work combined with alcohol led to a 43-year-old man facing criminal charges, a court was told.

Allan Brown pleaded guilty to failing to stop at the scene of an accident and refusing to provide a breath specimen to police when he appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court.

His solicitor Amer Hussain said Brown, who runs a firm employing three other people, had been working “night and day” to keep the business going in the current economy.

Mr Hussain said the recent break up of his eight-year relationship and medication for “general depression” had also put pressure on Brown, of Main Street, Evesham.

“These three factors led to the consumption of alcohol and the incidents.”

The court was told how Brown hit the off-side front wing of a female driver’s car in Honeybourne, near Evesham, after the woman turned off Weston Road on Monday, March 16.

“She turned left into High Street and saw Brown’s BMW crossing from his side of the road to hers, colliding with her,” said Marie Watton, prosecuting. “He hesitated for a few moments and then continued on, so she jumped out of her car and chased after him.”

Brown turned off at a nearby junction but his car mounted a kerb and ended up stricken in a drainage ditch.

Members of the public who went to help took the car keys from Brown’s car when they noticed his slurred speech.

When he later became verbally abusive they had to restrain him until police arrived.

He refused a roadside breath test and when taken to Evesham police station made a “half-hearted” attempt to provide a sample which wasn’t strong enough to register, according to Miss Watton.

Mr Hussain said his client had “simply been overcome by an unfortunate combination of factors and would like to apologise.”

He was fined £588 for failing to provide a sample and was banned from the road for three years. He was also fined £250 for failing to stop and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge and £60 costs.