A 21-year-old man who overtook a police car at speed and then crashed his car on a bend has been banned from driving for 20 months by magistrates in Liskeard. Steven Robert Pearce, of Pine View, Gunnislake, admitted driving after consuming excess alcohol. He was told that provided he completes a drink- driver rehabilitation course, his ban will be reduced by five months. He was also fined £300 with £34 costs and a £15 Victims' Surcharge. Ron Butler, prosecuting, said that just after midnight on Saturday, February 2, two police officers in a marked patrol car were overtaken at speed by a Peugeot driven by Pearce in Liskeard Road, Callington. The Peugeot then continued at speed towards a lefthand bend but did not attempt to slow down, colliding with a lamppost and ending up in the hedge. As the police officers helped Pearce, who was unhurt, from the car, they smelled alcohol on his breath and a subsequent test revealed 78mcgs of alcohol in a 100ml specimen of his breath. The legal limit is 35mcgs. For motor mechanic Pearce, it was said he had been for a night out in Callington and had arranged to stay with friends but had lost them after leaving the last pub they visited. With no credit left on his phone and just £2 in cash, he made the wrong decision by deciding to drive himself home.