A ‘VERY drunk’ driver who brought terror to a petrol station was spared jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard Imran Hussain, 22, smashed into a parked car before pulling on to the Colne garage forecourt and dragging his equally inebriated passenger from the vehicle.

He then hit out repeatedly at his friend with a metal bar and set about the car with it.

The ‘bizarre’ outburst, witnessed by a man and his two teenage daughters, left the passenger so distressed, he staggered round to the driver's side of the vehicle and locked himself in. Hussain continued to hit the car. The family, one of them in tears, alerted police and the defendant was pulled over on Lonsdale Street, Nelson, 20 minutes later.

A bottle of vodka was in the vehicle and Hussain gave a roadside breath test which suggested he was almost three times over the limit, but refused to give a specimen.

Hussain, said to have a psychiatric condition with ‘bizarre delusions’, had not taken his medication before the incident. He walked free after the judge said he could take a ‘wholly exceptional’ approach.

Hussain, of Rutland Street, Nelson, had admitted dangerous driving, affray and failing to provide a specimen.

He was given a two-year community order with a mental health requirement, and was banned for three years and must take an extended retest.

Sarah Statham, prosecuting, said at about 10.50pm, Hussain, in a Volkswagen Golf, crashed into a parked car on Green Lane, Colne, pushing it 15ft down the road. He then drove off at speed. The father, travelling with his daughters, phoned police and followed Hussain to the petrol station in North Valley Road.

The family saw Hussain almost fall out of the car on to his hands and knees then stagger round to the passenger side with a 40cm metal bar in his hand.

Miss Statham said the defendant and his passenger went into the garage but were so drunk, they got into the wrong car.

She said: “The man and his daughters say they were very frightened. One was in tears.”

Hussain accepted he caused the crash but said he couldn’t remember much else. He had no previous convictions.

Judge Robert Altham said Hussain’s behaviour at the petrol station had been frightening and witnesses feared he may turn on them.

He said: “You could have seriously injured people or done far worse.

“Given that your behaviour was bizarre and erratic, it would seem likely that your conduct was, to some extent, affected by the condition from which you suffer.”