Drunk South Yorkshire footballer ploughed his car into a field following a post-match drinking session

Kyle Bramhall had been playing football on October 13 last year in the Killamarsh area and had gone to the pub after the game to celebrate another player’s birthday, Chesterfield Magistrates Court heard on Friday, August 7.

The 20-year-old, of Haigh Moor Way, Swallownest, then left the vehicle in the field, about 200 metres from where he crashed through and made his way back to the home he shares with his parents.

Prosecuting, Katie Hamill said witnesses had seen Hamill’s vehicle carry on over a T-junction and carry on into an open field.

When questioned by police, Hamill had initially denied being behind the wheel at the time of the incident, claiming he had left the car in the carpark of the pub he had been drinking at.

But dash-cam footage police retrieved showed the accident and the 20-year-old leaving the scene, she said.

“Following the collision, a search for the registered keeper proved negative, so police went to his home but he wasn’t there,” she said. “His parents later called and said that he had returned home.”

Mitigating, Paul Metcalf, told the court that the incident had had a devastating effect on Bramhall, who admitted drink driving, who had given up his university studies as a result and now had two part-time jobs.

He added that Bramhall had also been driving emergency workers to work during the lockdown, because he still had his licence.

“It’s not like him to go drinking after a match, but it was one of the player’s birthdays and he decided to have a drink,” he said. “Usually he would call his father and ask him to bring him home, but there was an argument in the pub and he decided to leave.”

Hamill was banned from driving for 19 months but was offered a drink drive course which would reduce the disqualification by a quarter. He was also fined £300 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge.

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