A CIVIL servant who was three times the drink-drive limit when he crashed into a teenage holidaymaker has been jailed for two years.

Divorced father-of-three David Glassonbury, 46, failed to negotiate a bend in Frampton on Severn and careered across the road, hitting the youth, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Derk Van Dijk, 17, from Holland, was eating a sandwich at the time.

He was on holiday with his family, who had pulled up in an off road parking area for a picnic by the canal in Frampton on July 14 last year.

Prosecutor Julian Kesner said people heard “terrible screams” as Glassonbury hit Mr Van Dijk, virtually severing his left leg at the ankle.

He had undergone several operations and needed muscle and tissue transplanted to the ankle and calf from his shoulder, the court heard.

Glassonbury, of Mendip Close, Quedgeley, admitted dangerous driving causing serious injury and driving with excess alcohol on Thursday.

The court heard he had 113 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Glassonbury was jailed for two years and banned from driving for three.

Judge William Hart said he had taken Glassonbury’s previous good character and long career in the civil service into account but added that he would be failing in his duty if he did not impose immediate jail for such a serious offences.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Van Dijk said the injury was still “painful and inconvenient” and that he was missing about 50 per cent of his school studies because of his condition and ongoing treatment.

Defence solicitor Lloyd Jenkins said Glassonbury was consumed by guilt and that he was devastated to have caused such a serious injury. Glassonbury had an alcohol problem at the time but had now been through detox and had not had a drink since the collision, he added.

Judge Hart said: “You were clearly wholly unfit to drive.”