A QUANTITY surveyor banned from driving for five years after a drunken smash has been told he can get his licence back.

Neil Shepherd, 31, had now got an offer of permanent work, conditional on being able to drive, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Shepherd, who lost his £35,000 job when he was banned in 2001, told the court the crash had been a sobering experience and he couldn't believe what he had done.

Shepherd, who had earlier been given 200 hours community punishment, added he had been for alcohol counselling to educate himself about drink.

Judge Barbara Watson said the applicant, who had been almost four times the limit, had been extremely lucky not to have been jailed. She then took "the wholly exceptional course" of ending the disqualification.

Shepherd, of Gisburn Road, Blacko, was earlier convicted of dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

The court was told how in the early hours in December 2000 Shepherd, who had been to the Snowball pub, in Brierfield, hit a lamp post after missing a roundabout at junction 12 on the M65.The vehicle was found abandoned after colliding at a dead end off the motorway.

The applicant had served two years and seven months of the five-year ban and was legally entitled to apply for his licence back after reaching the halfway point.He had completed his community work in under four months at a Nelson nursing home.