A 24-year-old Brynaman welder crashed his car into a farm gate after getting behind the wheel to escape a row with his wife, magistrates have been told.

David Powell, of Bryn Awel on Bryn Road, was almost one-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit when he collided with the entrance of Bryn Farm at 7.30pm on July 5.

Llanelli court was told how Powell lost control of his Ford Focus following an argument when his wife which erupted after he came home from an after-work drink with colleagues.

Ellie Morgan, prosecuting, described how police received a call from Powell’s wife informing them he had crashed the car after driving off when drunk.

“She said he had collided with the hedge and a gate,” Ms Morgan said.

When officers arrived they found the car in the middle of the road.

“There was extensive damage to the car and there was debris all across the carriageway,” Ms Morgan said.

The gate was off its hinges and laying flat in the field.

While the officers were at the scene, Powell appeared, walking down the road towards them.

“He was clearly upset,” Ms Morgan told the court.

“He immediately apologised for the damage.”

Powell told the officers he had had “three or four beers” earlier in the evening.

Tests showed he had 51 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

“I should not have driven,” Powell told police.

Representing himself in court, Powell pleaded guilty to driving while under the influence.

“After going out with a few of the boys at work I went home and had an argument with me wife,” he told magistrates.

“To diffuse the argument I go in the car. I was going to drive down the road and have a sleep in the car, but I didn’t make it.

“I made a mistake.”

Magistrates fined Powell £300 and banned him from driving for 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and a further £30 legal surcharge.