Derby County footballers Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett have avoided jail after pleading guilty to drink driving at the city's magistrates court today.
The duo were charged after after a Range Rover and a Mercedes crashed in Derby following a team building dinner.
The pair also admitted to failing at the stop at the scene of a crash on September 24th.
District Judge Jonathan Taaffe considered a custodial sentence before issuing the players with a stern rebuke and two 180-hour community orders.
In delivering his verdict, Judge Taaffe told the court:
'In due course credit will be given to you for your guilty pleas. I also accept that this is an isolated blemish upon your characters and you have shown genuine remorse for what has taken place.
'You may struggle to accept this but you are extremely fortunate to be here today. You had been drinking, you have been involved in a road traffic collision that could have led to death and did lead to the injury of a passenger in at least one of the vehicles. When you are in control of a motor vehicle you are in control of a lethal weapon. The fact that you are uninjured is perhaps remarkable.
'Your club have stood by you in circumstances when many employers would have dismissed you instantly for gross misconduct. That perhaps speaks to your characters and that this is an isolated incident.
'You are both intelligent and talented young men who have brought shame on yourselves, your families, your profession and your club. Those who pay hard earned money to watch you play regard you as role models, very well paid role models and many of the supporters who pay their money to watch you will be incredulous that professional athletes during the season on a so-called team bonding day are drinking and then taking the decision to drive.
'The aggravating factors of this matter are many. You had been drinking and you chose to drive when there was clearly no need to. An accident has occurred between the vehicles you were driving in unexplained circumstances.
'The most aggravating factor of all is that you have left the scene when a fellow professional was injured in the back of one of the vehicles.'
He continued: 'The readings in front of me in relation to drink driving are not the highest but it is fair to say they are considerably over the legal drink drive limit and you should have been nowhere near a motor vehicle.'
Lawrence and Bennett were fined six weeks wages by Derby County after the crash. The club condemned the players for bringing the club into disrepute following the 'alcohol related incident'.
Republic of Ireland international Richard Keogh, who was a passenger in one of the cars, suffered a knee injury during the crash which ruled him out of the game for 15 months.
