A drunk van driver was found asleep at the wheel after he was spotted swerving across one of Britain’s busiest motorways.
Jamie Barrett, 30, was discovered slumped in the driver’s seat of his vehicle at the side of the road after police were alerted to his erratic driving on the M1 in Nottinghamshire.
He had earlier been seen veering across four lanes of traffic in a black Ford van between junctions 25 and 26, before eventually coming to a stop when the vehicle ran out of fuel.
The alarm was raised by fellow drivers, who told officers he narrowly missed them. There was also evidence of damage to Barrett’s van which suggested it had crashed into motorway barriers.
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Police bodycam footage captured the moment officers discovered him asleep at the wheel on Sept 14.
Barrett, of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, was arrested after a roadside breath test showed he was more than twice the legal drink drive limit.
After pleading guilty to dangerous driving and drink driving, he was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was banned from driving for a year at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Oct 3.
Sgt Louis Jamieson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Barrett was driving on a busy motorway whilst under the influence of alcohol. It was more luck than anything else that no-one was injured, the consequences don’t bare thinking about.
“This case serves as a stark reminder that those who drink and drive are never in control of their vehicle and are selfishly putting the lives of other road users at risk.
“Nottinghamshire Police takes offences like this very seriously and we will continue to do everything in our power to take people like Barrett off our roads.”
Police said the footage was released to remind drivers of the potentially fatal consequences of getting behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol.
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