FORMER Manchester United player, Darron Gibson, has been banned from driving after ploughing into a group of cyclists in Bowdon before driving off.

Gibson, 27, was arrested after he mounted the kerb and crashed into a group of three cyclists who had been fixing a broken chain in Park Road on August 16.

An expensive bicycle was written-off during the collision and one of the cyclists received cuts to his legs, elbow and hands.

Gibson, of Bowdon, drove off before colliding with a pump at a petrol station in Dunham Road in his high-powered Nissan Skyline GTR Nismo.

Police were called by a concerned garage attendant after Gibson collided with the pump and began filling his vehicle with fuel while wearing no shoes.

Officers noticed an "obvious strong smell of alcohol" on Gibson's breath when they attended, and the footballer and his vehicle were then positively identified by one of the cyclists.

Gibson was arrested and taken to a police station where he gave a positive reading of 57 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit being 35.

Prosecutor Subhanar Chowdhury said the defendant fully acknowledged to police what he had done.

Gibson told police that he had been out the previous evening with Everton team-mates and had drunk "copious amounts of alcohol".

He said he later arrived home and had an argument with his wife which led to him leaving in his car.

Before sentencing, chair of the bench Susanne O'Connell asked the footballer, standing in the dock, if he wished to say anything to the court.

He replied: "I am extremely apologetic and it was completely out of character. I never usually do anything like that."

A statement from the most injured cyclist, Philip Quinn, was read out to the court in which he recalled hearing "the roar of an engine and the skidding of tyres" at the junction of Park Road and Dunham Road.

The next thing, he recalled, he was thrown into the air off his Kuota K-Uno bike.

He said: "I saw my bike laying on the road in pieces and the black car driving on to Dunham Road at speed.

"I initially thought the car had hit us on purpose because it mounted the pavement."

Appearing at Trafford Magistrates Court on Tuesday, September 1, the Everton midfielder and Republic of Ireland international pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol, driving without due care and attention and failing to stop after an accident.

He was banned from driving for 20 months, ordered to pay £4,500 for the bicycle he damaged in the collision, £1,000 to the injured cyclist and £100 each to the other two cyclists.

Gibson was also sentenced to a 12 month community order with a requirement to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work.