A DRINK driver who drove the wrong way up the A34 before hitting another car has avoided jail.

Autoglass worker Daniel Monahan was more than twice the legal alcohol limit when he careered through a line of cones and joined the dual carriageway, which had been closed due to a fuel spillage.

The 27-year-old, of Pinnocks Way, Botley, was given a suspended prison sentence at Oxford Crown Court on Monday after earlier admitting dangerous driving, drink driving and resisting a police constable.

Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said the A34 was closed at the Milton Interchange on February 23 but Monahan drove his Land Rover through a line of cones across the ‘on’ slip road heading south at about 10pm.

When challenged by Highways Agency staff, Monahan performed a U-turn and drove the wrong way north along the road before turning sharply to take the ‘off’ slip road at Milton.

Here he hit a car waiting to leave the closed road, leaving a woman and her 15-year-old daughter with minor injuries.

Miss Olliver said Monahan was “abusive and difficult” with police at the scene and had to be overpowered and handcuffed.

He refused to co-operate fully with a breath test and was subsequently found to have 173 milligrams of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The limit is 80 milligrams.

Adam Gadd, defending, said his client, who has cautions for ABH, common assault and having an offensive weapon, has not driven or consumed alcohol since the incident.

He said the Autoglass employee could only remember “flashes” of the evening and did not know where he was going or for what reason.

Mr Gadd said Monahan was very stressed at the time, partly because his brother had begun a relationship with his ex-girlfriend.

Judge Mary Jane Mowat, who called it “reckless and highly dangerous” driving, gave Monahan a nine-month jail term, suspended for a year, with 200 hours’ unpaid work. He was banned from driving for a year and must pay £500 costs.