A DRUNK joyrider who smashed into a parked car after driving the wrong way down a one-way street has avoided jail by “skin of his teeth”.

Lyndon Chant, 27, had taken his girlfriend’s Seat Ibiza on August 24 last year after she attempted to kick him out of the car.

By his own account he had drunk 20 pints of beer and cider during the day but his girlfriend had insisted on taking him home from the pub at around 11pm because he had become aggressive.

After he tried to pull the handbrake while she was driving he was ordered out of the car in at Wilton Shopping Village – a short walk from his home.

However, Chant then grabbed the keys, despite not having a driving licence, and forced his girlfriend out of the car. He then proceeded to drive the wrong way down North Street, hitting a stone wall before smashing into a parked Toyota Rav4.

Tom Evans prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court that Chant then emerged from the car bare-chested and swearing before attempting to untangle the two cars.

After revving the car he was able to free it and continue the short distance to his house – leaving his car parked in the middle of the road with the door open.

Police later found him hiding in the downstairs toilet.

The court heard the car was written off just after the owner had serviced it and paid for a new set of tyres.

Adam Norris defending said that Chant was “appalled by his own behaviour” and was “remorseful” for what happened.

He added that Chant now had a new job as a scaffolder and now has “turned over a new leaf ”.

Judge Martin Parroy QC sentenced Chant, of Wishford Road, Wilton, to 16 months in prison suspended for two years, describing his behaviour as “unacceptable”.

“It is a miracle that from your driving you or somebody else going about their normal business was not seriously hurt or killed,” he said.

“If that had happened you would have been going to jail for a long time – you were lucky.

“Hitting that car substantially ruined [the owner’s] life, the only reason why that happened was because you were acting like an irresponsible idiot.”

Chant was told to pay £1,000 compensation to the owner of the Toyota and carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge.