A DAD caught drink driving for the second time was chased by police into the grounds of a Worcester hospital, just yards from emergency patients.

Madalin Paun, two and a half times the limit, was spared jail after he told magistrates he had a packaging job and a child to support in Romania.

Speaking through an interpreter, the 22-year-old appeared teary-eyed in the dock after admitting drink driving, failing to stop when directed by police and driving while disqualified and using a car without insurance at Worcester Magistrates Court yesterday.

Police in a marked car responded to reports from other officers that Paun had failed to stop his Mazda 6 at around 2.40am on December 22 last year.

Ralph Robyns-Landricombe, prosecuting, said the Mazda was in Pershore Lane, Worcester travelling from the direction of Spetchley towards junction 6 of the M5.

Officers had activated their blue lights and sirens but Paun continued driving the car along Pershore Lane, turning onto the B4636 towards the city, entered Newtown Road and turned left into Charles Hastings Way, into the grounds of Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

He said: "The offending vehicle drove past the emergency department where there were pedestrians standing and entered a car park which was a dead end."

There the driver was detained and identified, failed an initial roadside breath test and was arrested.

The two evidential readings were 89mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, more than two and a half times the drink drive limit.

The defendant had a previous conviction for driving with excess alcohol from July 25 last year. He was banned from driving until May 24, 2021 at the time of the incident.

Paun told officers he had been loaned the car by his cousin. He told officers he had not noticed the first police car but when he saw the second police car he realised it was 'meant for him'.

Sumreen Asfar, defending, said Paun had entered timely guilty pleas and made full and frank admissions to the officers in interview.

Paun had been drinking when his girlfriend, who has mobility issues, telephoned him because she wanted his assistance.

"He stupidly borrowed the vehicle from his cousin and decided to drive. He fully accepts it was a silly decision on the spur of the moment" said Miss Asfar.

She told the court he was 'very sorry for his actions' and was employed as a packer by an agency, working five days a week.

"He supports his child who lives in Romania. She is four years old" said Miss Asfar.

Magistrates sentenced him to eight weeks in jail suspended for 12 months and banned him from driving for 46 months, a longer ban to reflect that this was the second time he had been caught drink driving within 10 years.

The total combined fines and costs handed to Paun of Port Street, Evesham, were set at £928 which will be added to his existing fines and paid off at a rate of £20 per week.