Bannan is now supporting West Midlands Police's Christmas campaign to stop drink driving after escaping a custodial sentence last month. The Scottish international admits being behind bars for the festive season strongly crossed his mind before he was eventually banned from driving for 18 months and fined £4,500. Bannan said: "Loads of things go through your head at the time and up until I got out of the court case I was thinking the worst. I was thinking I could be in jail. "My brief (legal team) couldn't rule anything out. They didn't know what was going to happen. "It was down to the judge, so there was a strong possibility that I could have gone to jail. "I was trying to put on a brave face when I was back playing football after. "But it was hard because when you go back home and there's no one around, then you start to think about it again. I can't think what it would have been like if I was in jail." When asked if he feared for his Villa future, Bannan said: "Yes, I'm lucky to be here. Obviously if I had to gone to jail, who knows what the club would do? "They could easily have sacked me, so you start to think about what is going to happen football-wise as well." Bannan is counting his good fortune that no-one was injured as a result of his actions. He said: "Do I feel lucky? Definitely. I think if there was another car involved or if I did something to myself or my mate that was in the car as well... "You wake up the next day and you are thinking of loads of other things but you feel lucky as well because I might not have been here or could have taken someone else's life, so I'm very lucky in a way. "It was a terrifying experience and it still goes through my head now. "Some days I'll be at the house doing nothing and my head will just switch to thinking about that. It's hard to explain what I was going through and what happened."
