A mechanic stole a customer’s car and then drove it after drinking to fetch a takeaway.
Khalil Awan had several convictions for drink-driving to his name when he got behind the wheel.
He was serving a four year ban when he decided to take the vehicle for a spin late on March 29.
Awan, of Park View in Thornhill Lees, said he turned to drink after his father was killed in an arson attack in Pakistan.
He had suffered from nightmares and flashbacks since and chose alcohol as a coping mechanism, Kirklees magistrates were told.
The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to driving whilst over the prescribed limit, using a vehicle without insurance, driving whilst disqualified and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
He was pulled over by police conducting routine roadside checks on Calder Road in Dewsbury, the Huddersfield court was told.
He smelt of alcohol and was arrested after failing a roadside breath test.
Further tests at Dewsbury Police Station showed he had 53 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 milliltres of breath.
The legal limit is 35 microgrammes. Further checks showed that Awan was banned from driving by West Cumbria magistrates for four years until November this year for two offences of drink-driving.
Awan also confessed that the Vauxhall Corsa he was driving belonged to a customer of Dewsbury-based AJ Motors where he worked as a mechanic.
The car had been parked at the Water Street premises for repairs but he had taken it away from there without the owner’s permission.
As well as his more recent convictions Awan was prosecuted in 2010 for driving whilst disqualified and drink-driving.
He claimed he moved the customer’s car because numerous items had been stolen from it and he felt it was safer parked outside his home.
Awan said he’d drunk four pints of lager earlier that evening and gone to bed but woke up feeling hungry and decided to drive to the takeaway because it was too late for them to deliver.
Probation officer Sharon Lees told the court he was aware he could have killed someone and the car wouldn’t have been insured if he caused damage to it.
She described Anwan as a binge drinker and said he suffered from mental health difficulties including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ms Lees told magistrates: “His father was killed in an arson attack at his home in Pakistan in 2015 and that had a detrimental effect on his mental health.
“He was also the victim of serious assault in mistaken identity and sustained a bad head injury.
“Now he has difficulties with low mood, flashbacks and nightmares and uses alcohol as a coping mechanism.”
Awan’s solicitor Paul Blanchard added he genuinely believed his driving ban was for three years not four years and “had the best of intention” in taking the car.
Magistrates sentenced him to 16 weeks in custody, suspended for a year.
He must complete six months of alcohol treatment, 10 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours of unpaid work.
Awan was also banned from driving for a further 48 months and told to pay £85 costs and £115 victim surcharge.
