A driver who claimed to have fallen asleep at the wheel before a crash was banned from the roads for 18 months today.

Bray Saltus, 61, from Warwick, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to refusing to provide an adequate breath sample to police after an accident in January.

Nicole Smith, for the Crown, told the court that officers attended a single-vehicle collision on South Road in Warwick.

Saltus crashed the front of his car into a casuarina tree, which resulted in the vehicle being written off.

Officers noticed bottle caps to multiple alcoholic drinks on the driver’s side of Saltus’s car.

Saltus refused to tell police anything about how the accident had happened and refused to provide a breath sample.

He told senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson that he had fallen asleep at the wheel before the crash and apologised for his actions.

In addition to being banned, Saltus was fined $1,500.

•It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding court cases. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.