An MP's son has been arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving after his sports coup crashed into a parked car.

Damien Foster, the 26 year-old son of Hastings and Rye MP Michael Foster, was cut from the wreckage of his Vauxhall Calibra following the accident in St Leonards early on Friday.

He was breath-tested and arrested on suspicion of being unfit to drive through drink or drugs but later released without charge.

The Labour MP said his son denied he was driving the purple car when it hit a Rover parked in Battle Road at 2am.

Damien, a builder, who lives at the family home in Wishing Tree Road, St Leonards, told his father he had been sitting in the boot area when the accident happened.

He said he was sitting there to allow an extra person to squeeze into the four-seat car.

Damien was on his way home from a night out in Hastings when the accident took place.

Mr Foster said: "I understand a friend of Damien's drove him to where they were going, they met some more people there and a different friend drove him back, which is when the accident happened.

"I spoke with the firemen who went to the scene and they said they cut him out, so it would be a miracle if he had been driving."

Damien and the friend he had begun the night with were cut free by firefighters and needed treatment for bruising and whiplash.

Mr Foster said he assumed the other passengers and the driver had run away from the scene.

He said: "I don't really know what happened. All I can say is I am surprised anyone would run off in that situation leaving their friends in an injured state.

"The good news is, Damien and his friend both escaped being seriously injured.

"Damien was arrested because he was the owner of the vehicle but he has not been charged."

Police confirmed a man had been breath-tested at the scene and taken to the police station to help with inquiries.

A spokesman said no one else was arrested at the scene of the crash. He said: "If the person arrested said he was not driving then I assume we are looking for someone else in connection with the accident."