A gardener crashed his girlfriend's car after they had a blazing row at a friend's wedding, a court heard.

Sean Tester was found lying drunk and injured next to the wreckage with a broken shoulder and ankle.

The owner of the parked car he wrote off was a doctor who tended him until an ambulance arrived.

Tester, 27, of Cavalry Crescent, Eastbourne, told police at the scene: "I am pissed, arrest me".

He pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, drink-driving, and to having no driving licence or insurance when he appeared at Hove Crown Court yesterday.

The court was told the crash happened late at night in Hawkes Road, Hailsham, on June 21.

Julian Dale, defending, said Tester had gone to a wedding there with his partner in her car and that he was looking after the keys.

They had booked a room at a nearby hotel.

Mr Dale said: "They had a heated row, which led to him being told to go. It became clear that they were not going to spend the night together after all.

"He cannot remember what happened that night but accepts he had the keys to his partner's car.

"He believes that, foolishly, he decided to drive back home to Eastbourne without her and crashed a short distance from the hotel."

The court heard that Tester had completed a two-year drink-driving ban a short time before the crash.

He was charged with aggravated vehicle taking because he did not have his girlfriend's permission to take the car.

Judge Anthony Niblett banned Tester from driving for four years and imposed a six-month curfew on him with a condition that he lived with his mother in Cavalry Crescent, Eastbourne.

He was also given an 80-hour community punishment order and a two-year community rehabilitation order, during which he must attend a drink-drivers programme.