AN ambulance crew found a woman crawling around a field after she had endured a terrifying car ride at the hands of a drink driver, a court heard yesterday.

Michael Hammond, prosecuting, said Deborah Dean was given a lift back to Harrogate by Mark James Knowles after the pair had a night out in several pubs in Knaresborough.

But she became frightened once Knowles, 33, got behind the wheel of his car a few minutes before midnight.

Ms Dean had been sitting beside Knowles, of Regent Place, Starbeck, Harrogate, as he drove out of Knaresborough over High Bridge and up the hill towards Harrogate Golf Club.

She told police: "I asked him to slow down three times but he didn't even look at me.

Because of his speed, Knowles had to pass a traffic island on the wrong side to avoid a car he came up behind too fast. After that she remembered nothing else until she was "crawling around in a field and being picked up by an ambulance man".

She suffered a broken nose, cuts and bruises in the accident after Knowles lost control and ploughed into a field.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol and was told by court chairman Judith Thomas he was lucky not to be going to prison.

He was put on probation for two years, ordered to do 60 hours of unpaid community work, and pay £70 costs. He was also banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to take an extended driving test before going back on the road.

In mitigation, Stuart Berry said Knowles, not normally prone to reckless acts, was sad and remorseful.