TWO men were forced to hand over the keys to their car by a drunk who drove them around a busy town centre.

A court heard the pair were sitting on a wall near their car when they were approached by 27-year-old Andrew Lee and two other men.

Lee forced them to hand over the keys to the car and ordered them into the back seat, said Jacqueline Gibson, prosecuting. She said: "One of the other men asked them for a cigarette and then told them to stand still as they were getting robbed.

"The owner of the car and his friend were then told to get in the back seat."

Lee drove around Darlington before stopping to get petrol at a garage in Northgate. It was there the two men got out, Newton Aycliffe magistrates were told.

"Mr Lee said that he was very drunk at the time he committed the offence. He accepts that the victims must have been petrified," said Ms Gibson.

Jane Scott, mitigating, said: "Mr Lee was making conversation with the men in the back, asking them where they were from and telling them where he was from. His mindset was that it was not an aggressive situation."

Lee, of Mallory Court, Darlington, admitted taking the vehicle without consent, driving without insurance or a licence and failing to surrender to police bail.

He was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison and given eight points for driving without insurance.