A drink driver was behind the wheel of a car when it burst into flames in a picturesque village.

Marek Peczkowski was driving the Jaguar through Rougham, near Fakenham, at 9.20pm on October 24 when it caught fire.

Firefighters called police, who found Peczkowski, 40, was over the limit. Peczkowski of Wootton Road, King's Lynn, admitted drink-driving when he appeared before Lynn magistrates on Thursday.

The bench was told that the burnt-out car was unidentifiable and he couldn’t remember the registration number at the scene.

He told police the Jaguar had started to smoke as he was driving, he’d stopped and flames began.

Prosecutor Anna Crayford said: “The defendant said he’d [since] been given a drink by a male he couldn’t name but then, in interview, admitted he’d been drinking before the incident.”

A roadside test gave an indicative reading of 129 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than three-and-a-half times the limit of 35. However, his evidential reading in custody was 99.

Peczkowski said in interview that it was his brother’s car and he’d lied about someone else giving him drink because he knew he was over the limit.

George Sorrell, mitigating, said his client’s “prevarication” with the police was indicative of someone under the influence of alcohol.

“The important thing is he’s come to court today to tell the truth,” he added. “This happened in Rougham, of all places. They don’t expect this sort of thing to happen there – a Jaguar passing through catching fire and the police attending and this man being arrested.”

Mr Sorrell said his client was a man of previous good character with a good job and was “very much ashamed of himself”. Peczkowski was banned from driving for two years, which can be reduced by the completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

He was also fined £615 and told to pay £105 costs and £61 victim surcharge