A drink-driver who ploughed into two vehicles was so badly injured that he couldn’t be punished for six months.

Rowan Dennis suffered a serious head injury following the smash which happened in Sheepridge while he was more than twice the legal limit.

He was witnessed by police hitting a parked car as he drove his Fiat Punto along New House Road on December 22 last year.

Following this incident shortly before 11pm he continued his journey, smashing into a car travelling in the opposite direction.

A mother and her two young children were in the vehicle and suffered minor injuries as a result of the head-on collision, prosecutor Vanessa Jones told Kirklees magistrates.

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Dennis, 56, was very seriously injured and his blood sample was taken while he was unconscious in hospital.

This showed that he had 174 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - more than twice the legal limit of 80 milligrammes.

Dennis, of Leafield Close in Sheepridge, pleaded guilty to driving while over the legal limit when he appeared at the Huddersfield court.

He was previously disqualified from driving in 2010 for another offence of drink driving.

Magistrates were told that Dennis was not interviewed by police until March this year because of the severity of his injuries.

His solicitor Leslie Cowling said: “He cannot recall a great deal.

“He had a severe head injury from the accident, he was in hospital for a long period of time and is still on sick leave from work.

“There were two road traffic collisions but there were minor injuries compared to the injuries Mr Dennis suffered - he seems to have come off worse.”

Magistrates banned Dennis from driving for 40 months.

He will have to complete a community order including a 17 day drink impaired driver’s course.

Magistrates ordered him to pay £85 court costs and £85 victim surcharge.