A DRUG addict who crashed into an oncoming car after swerving all over the place and driving on the wrong side of the road was jailed.

Newport Crown Court heard how another motorist passing Richard Moore thought he was actually asleep and slumped over the steering wheel of his Mercedes C220.

The 41-year-old defendant’s barrister Jenny Yeo admitted: “The repercussions could have been fatal.”

Moore’s shocking driving was first spotted by a road user as they were travelling on the A469 between Caerphilly and Ystrad Mynach at around 6am on June 21.

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Claire Pickthall, prosecuting, said that driver was flashing fellow motorists to warn them about the danger ahead after he overtook him.

She told the court: “He saw the defendant slumped over the wheel as if he was asleep.

“He saw him swerving and driving on the wrong side of the road.”

As Moore reached the A472 in Tredomen, on the outskirts of Ystrad Mynach, he crashed into a Subaru car.

Miss Pickthall said: “That driver could see the defendant coming towards him and attempted to mount the kerb.

“The defendant collided with the wing mirror of his car.

“The vehicle, which was worth £7,000 to £8,000, was written off.

“The driver suffered a fractured hand and pain in his neck and shoulder.

“The defendant was slurring his words and had blue residue around his mouth.

“He offered to pay for the damage before he became aggressive.”

She added how Moore then locked himself in his car before he fled from the scene after climbing into the back of his vehicle and getting out of a back door.

A police dog handler was called to the scene and the defendant was found and arrested about an hour later hiding in a nearby garden.

He refused to give a sample of his blood when he was taken into custody and had committed the offences just 11 days after he had been banned from driving.

Moore, of Orange Grove, Fairwater, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.

He has previous convictions for drink driving and taking a vehicle without consent.

Mrs Yeo, mitigating for Moore, said her client, a crane operator, was described as a “functioning drug addict”.

She added he had “expressed remorse” for his actions in June.

Richard Williams told Moore: “You showed a flagrant and deliberate disregard for the rules of the road.

“You crashed into someone’s car and then ran off.”

He jailed him for 10 months and banned him from driving for two years and five months.

The defendant was ordered to sit an extended retest before he can drive again.