A KELTY drink-driver had to be taken to hospital after being found unconscious at the wheel after crashing into a hedge.

Steven Wardrop, 45, of Station Road, was more than four times over the limit.

At Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Wardop admitted that on September 9, on the B916 Dunfermline to Dalgety Bay road, he drove after consuming excess alcohol.

His reading was 215 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the legal limit being 50 milligrammes.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said that at 5.30am, a member of the public called the police having seen a car in a hedge with the driver apparently unconscious.

Police arrived at the scene and saw there was damage to the front of the vehicle.

They found that the keys were in the ignition, the engine was still running and Wardrop was in the driver’s seat.

An officer opened the door and shook Wardrop and there was no response initially but later he started mumbling.

An ambulance was called and Wardrop was taken to the Victoria Hospital.

A blood sample was taken at 10.29am at which time Wardrop was more than four times over the limit.

Defence solicitor Fraser Napier said: “He’s remorseful and embarrassed about his decision-making.

He said his client had been at a birthday party the night before and had gone out driving afterwards “to clear his head”.

Sheriff Derek Reekie told Wardrop: “You weren’t tested in the hospital until five hours after you were driving so your reading would have been even more significant when you were driving.

“Public protection is the main sentencing issue here.”

He banned Wardrop from driving for 20 months and imposed a community payback order with 65 hours of unpaid work.