Drink driver found 'slumped over wheel' in a ditch after coming off motorway in Gloucester

A Gloucester man has been banned from driving after blowing nearly four times the legal limit when he was found by officers slumped at the wheel in a ditch of a motorway.

Police had been called to junction one of the M50 on the morning of Tuesday 8 November last year after a member of the public saw a vehicle within a ditch on the grass verge.

Officers found 37-year-old Oliver Wassell of Barn Ground, Highnam in Gloucester, unconscious at the wheel and carried out a breath test after believing he was intoxicated.

Wassell blew a reading of 134 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - making him nearly four times the legal limit.

He was arrested and taken into police custody before being charged with driving a vehicle when over the legal alcohol limit.

Wassell appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates’ Court last Friday (24 February) for sentencing after previously pleading guilty.

He was given eight weeks in prison suspended for 12 months and banned from driving for two years and six months.

He is also required to complete alcohol dependency treatment and ordered to pay £239 in victim surcharge and court costs.

Sergeant Mark Feltham from the Roads Policing Unit said: "I would like to thank the concerned member of the public who called us back in November as it helped to take a drink driver off the roads.

“When we arrived and breathalysed Wassell he was in no fit state to be driving and was unable to stand up on his own so it’s very fortunate that he didn’t cause an accident.

“I hope this case serves as a reminder to people to think about how they will get home after drinking as well as if they need to use their vehicle as alcohol can stay in your system for a lot longer than people realise.”