A prank “went horribly wrong” when a drunk man drove his friend’s keyless car and accidentally reversed over him.

Danny Taylor shouted “look, I’m going to drive your car” - before jumping into the driver’s seat of his friend’s Audi A4 after leaving the pub.

He was able to start the car because his friend was standing nearby with the electronic key.

Taylor (32), who had met up with his friend after work, then drove the car about 20 metres forward up Main Street in Countesthorpe before reversing 20 metres backwards, when he struck his friend.

His friend was rushed to hospital and the Audi was also damaged in the collision.

Leicestershire Police attended and Taylor, an engineer of The Vineries, Countesthorpe, was given a breath test. He was taken into police custody after being found to be over the limit, with 42 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

At Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday he pleaded guilty to drink-driving.

Taylor’s solicitor, Kim Lee, told the court he had been with his client at Euston Street Police Station in Leicester after the incident happened on August 25 last year.


He said: “He was genuinely remorseful and very upset at what had happened.

“It was a prank which went horribly wrong.

“They have been friends for 10 years and had met for after-work drinks.

“Towards the end point of the evening my client, as a prank, says, ‘Look, I’m going to drive your car’.

“He drives 20 metres forward, 20 metres back. He’s very upset and distressed for his friend and also for his own partner.

“My client works in Nuneaton as an engineer and his partner is going to have to take him to work early in the morning and collecting him very late at night.”

Mr Lee said Taylor’s friend was still in contact with him and had not wanted the case to proceed against Taylor for what he did to him.

Mr Lee said Taylor’s friend was making a “very good recovery”.

The magistrates disqualified Taylor from driving for 16 months. They also fined him £253 and ordered him to pay a £30 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.