THE OUTGOING head of a prestigious private school overdid the drinks at his own leaving party and ended up crashing his car into a telegraph pole.

Mark Atkins, formerly head of Beech Hall School in Tytherington, was fined £500 and got a two-year ban when he was found to be almost three times over the legal limit.

Macclesfield magistrates heard that police discovered him making his way home on foot one mile away from the scene of the accident.

Mr Atkins is leaving Beech Hall after he accepted a new position as head of the junior division of Repton School in the United Arab Emirates.

Atkins, 44, of Cumber Lane, Wilmslow, refused to comment after sentence and his solicitor was unavailable at the time of going to press.

In court, Debbie Byrne, prosecuting, said that on Friday, December 15 - the day Beech Hall broke up for Christmas - Atkins went to the town's Brocklehurst Arms pub in the afternoon, and then got behind the wheel of his Rover 75.

She said that just before 11pm the defendant smashed into the pole at the junction of Priest Lane and Wilmslow Old Road.

Keiran Henry, defending, said: "My client has never done anything like this in the past. He accepts that a disqualification will be imposed. There is nothing to be added about the incident."

During his time at Beech Hall, Atkins was involved in extensive fundraising both locally and on a larger scale.

In 2005 he visited the tsunami-ravaged coastal regions of India to provide vital classroom and sports equipment bought with money raised by the school.

Speaking on his last day at the school - just hours before the crash - Atkins told the Macclesfield Express: "I am looking forward to the new job and everything that comes with it, but it has been brilliant at Beech Hall."

In court, chairman of the bench, Alan Fryer, told the defendant: "It is a high reading and we are asked to consider a community sentence. But because of your prompt guilty plea, we are going to fine you £500 and disqualify you for 24 months."

He was also ordered to pay £20 court costs.

Hilary Blackwell, member of the governors of Beech Hall, said after the case: "We don't know anything about the incident or the circumstances in which it happened. We express our sympathy to Mr Atkins and are saddened by the news. We sincerely wish him all the best in the future."