A car delivery driver who spun off the road and crashed into a wall with two children in the rear seats was found to be more than four times over the limit.

George Sexton claimed he drove drunk after becoming upset about delivering a new car to a street where his parents stayed before they died.

Perth Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday that the two children were not hurt in the crash but were extremely distressed and crying when police arrived at the scene.

Sexton, 33, was told he had narrowly avoided being jailed as Sheriff Fiona Tait ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order.

He was also banned from driving for three years and ordered to attend a drink-driving rehabilitation project.

Fiscal depute Stuart Richardson told the court Sexton's driving was so erratic that other motorists followed him before taking the keys from his ignition when he rammed into the wall.

The court heard he almost collided with safety barriers at a pedestrian crossing and then blew out a tyre by colliding with a traffic island at a mini roundabout.

He kept driving despite the flat tyre and swerved into the oncoming carriageway, causing another motorist to take evasive action to avoid a head-on collision.

At one point he stalled the vehicle but when he started the ignition again the car lurched forward and hit a wall at a residential property.

Officers who spoke to Sexton noticed a strong smell of alcohol from his breath and he was unable to speak without slurring his words.

The two children, aged six and seven, were found crying hysterically in the back of the car.

Sexton, of Kinloch Terrace, Perth, admitted driving drunk around several streets in Perth on December 20 last year. The court was told he had since lost his job.

He also admitted wilfully exposing children to unnecessary suffering or injury to health by driving a car under the influence of alcohol while they were passengers.

Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, said Sexton had a problem with alcohol previously but had never been in trouble with the police before.

She said he had delivered a car to a street where his parents had lived and it had upset him, causing him to drink a substantial quantity of alcohol before driving at Sunday lunchtime.