A DRUNKEN man spoken to by police because he was barefoot and bleeding climbed into a parked car and released the handbrake, a court was told.

But his short journey came to an abrupt end when he collided with the police riot van containing the officers who had questioned him seconds earlier.

Blackburn magistrates were told that when he was arrested and asked to blow into a breathalyser, Sorbast Hidayat began to sing into the mouth-piece.

He later admitted drinking a litre bottle of whisky and some Sambuca and said he could not remember anything of the incident in Darwen Street in the early hours of Saturday.

Hidayat, 30, of Hozier Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to unauthorised taking of a car, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, driving without a licence and without insurance.

He was ordered to do 150 hours community punishment and banned from driving for 18 months.

Roger Pickles, defending, said his client was a Kurdish asylum seeker who was dependant on food tokens and was not allowed to work.