A DRUNKEN builder crashed into five cars after having a row with his girlfriend.

Robert Cerqua, 27, who was almost three times the legal drink-drive limit, first ran into the back of a female driver, but failed to stop. The driver, however, reported him to the police.

Prosecutor Eleanor Fargin told Southampton Crown Court that Cerqua collided with two other cars on a bend before crashing into the back of a fourth vehicle, then colliding head-on with a fifth before the police caught him.

Cerqua, of Langdown Road, Hythe, admitted driving with excess alcohol, having no insurance and dangerous driving.

Iain Hope, defending, said that Cerqua, who was fighting a drink problem, had relapsed on the day before rowing with his girlfriend and driving off at speed.

Cerqua received an eight-month suspended sentence, a threemonth curfew, a five-year driving ban and 100 hours’ community service.