HGV drink driver jailed after being caught five times over legal limit on M4
Watch the moment police arrested Andrew Champion on the M4.
A HGV driver has been jailed for 14 months after being caught driving on the M4 whilst nearly five times over the legal drink limit.
Andrew Champion was stopped near Reading after police followed his 44-tonne lorry, his breath test reading was 174mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Inside the vehicle, officers found a half drunk bottle of whisky next to the driver’s seat.
Champion had been seen veering between lanes, narrowly missing a recovery vehicle and a broken down car on the stretch of the carriageway near Swindon. He repeatedly ignored police calls to stop.
The Wiltshire police officer who pursued the lorry for 20 miles on the motorway described the 53-year-old driver's actions back in May as "terrifying".
PC Jay Clifton from Wiltshire’s Road Policing Unit was the first on the scene and praised the actions of a Highways Maintenance Vehicle which had switched on its lights to warn other drivers.
“He was effectively creating rolling barrier on the motorway and slowing other members of the public down to stop them from passing and getting anywhere near the lorry. That person’s actions, I’ve no idea who it is to this day, probably saved lives”
During the pursuit, Champion ignored police signals to stop and came close to hitting a broken-down car on the hard shoulder.
“The lorry weaved from the second lane on to the hard shoulder, missing a recovery vehicle and the vehicle being recovered by a couple of feet. How he didn’t hit them, I don’t know."
A stinger was deployed by officers from Thames Valley Police and when the lorry came to a halt, Champion was taken from the vehicle.
At Newport Crown Court, Champion, of Rhych Avenue, Porthcawl, was sentenced to fourteen months in prison and banned from driving for four years and seven months.
He was also fined £156 and will have to take an extended retest when his driving ban ends.
“I’ve been on the roads policing unit for 17 years and I’ve never seen anything like that before," PC Clifton said.
“It’s not the damage he could do to himself which is going to happen, it’s the danger to other members of the public.
“Had he crossed the carriageway into oncoming vehicles, had he gone into the roadworks and hit a member of the maintenance crew - people could have died."