A man who crashed his car after driving at almost four times the drink-drive limit is to be sentenced next month.

James Ralph lost control of his vehicle on the A737 at Crossroads near Dalry on December 23 last year.

Ralph, of Hillhouse Muir in Glasgow, appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week and pled guilty to three charges.

The court heard that just after midnight, police received a call from control room that a vehicle had crashed.

Officers attended and found Ralph, 43, and a male friend at a vehicle which had overturned. Police requested an ambulance and the two men were found to have sustained minor injuries.

Ralph stated that he had been driving the car and this was because his friend had taken a bad reaction to his medication.

He was asked to take a roadside breath test and was found to have 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 22 microgrammes in 100 Ralph was told he was under arrest and taken to Saltcoats Police Office.

He was searched at the police station and found to have two small bags of cannabis resin.

A check on the police computer revealed that Ralph only had a provisional license and had no insurance.

Defence lawyer Mr Ghee said that his client was fit to carry out unpaid work, adding: “He [Ralph’s friend] was on anti-psychotic medication and both of them had taken a drink. He seems to have been fairly cooperative with the police.”

Sentence was deferred until February 8 and Ralph was bailed until then.

He was disqualified from driving in the meantime.