Driver banned for reaching to take beer can from stag do minibus at 70mph

A man has been banned from driving after he reached out his car window to take a can of beer from a minibus carrying a stag do while travelling at 70mph on a motorway.

Paul Holmes, 24, drove his vehicle alongside the party bus and talked to its occupants between junctions 16 and 17 of the M6 on his way back from Birmingham.

He was caught by the dashcam of another vehicle reaching over to take a can from one of the minibus passengers on 4 February.

Holmes told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court that he passed the can on to his own passenger.

He was banned from getting behind the wheel for 15 months after admitting a charge of dangerous driving.

Read more: Cold War bomber plane comes off runway ending up inches from road

He was also given a 12-month community order with 140 hours unpaid work.

Holmes, a civil engineer from Darkwood Crescent, Clitheroe, Lancashire, was also ordered to pay £280 in court costs and charges.

The court heard that Holmes decided to have "a bit of a laugh" with the stag do.

Holmes was travelling very closely behind another vehicle and the motorway was busy at the time, meaning the stunt could have had "catastrophic" consequences, the court heard.

Debbie Leadbetter, his lawyer, said he had been caught up in a "very exciting day".

She said: "He had been to see his children in Birmingham. He picked a friend up and they were going to go out in the evening.

"They were passing this group of people who started to gesticulate and wave to them.

"There was banter with them, they were in high spirits.

"Momentarily, he got caught up in the fervour of the stag party and bizarrely he agreed to take this can and give it to his friend.

"Throughout this time he had full control of the vehicle and did not look away from the road. He just put his hand out. It was momentary stupidity."

Following his driving ban, Holmes will have to pass an extended driving test if he wishes to get behind the wheel again.

Mark Olszewski, chairperson of the bench, told Holmes: "What we saw on the footage has given us a great deal of concern.

"The potential outcome of that behaviour could have been catastrophic. It could have cost lives."