Surrey lorry driver stopped on M23 had downed half a bottle of vodka
A Surrey lorry driver downed half a bottle of vodka before getting behind the wheel. Dainius Juodis failed to stop for police for four miles before finally stopping in a live lane on the M23, he was nearly five times the legal alcohol limit.
Officers from Sussex Police's Tactical Firearms Unit (TFU) were on patrol when they noticed the lorry swerving on the carriageway north of Pease Pottage. Police said he had driven the heavy good vehicle on the A23 south of Crawley but failed to stop when officers activated their blue lights and tried to pull him over.
TFU Inspector Mark Robinson said: “This was a shocking incident, with a lorry driver found nearly five times over the legal alcohol limit. TFU officers had to contend with keeping the public safe while a large vehicle was failing to stop, which posed a high risk to other road users as well as to the safety of the officers.
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“Juodis eventually stopped in a live lane of the motorway, which required our officers to close four lanes of the carriageway in order to safely arrest him. By the manner of his driving, Juodis is incredibly lucky not to have caused serious harm or a fatality on our roads."
The incident happened at about 1am on Saturday, January 11. He gave a positive breath test at roadside, and then later gave an even higher reading of 172uhg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, when taken to custody. The legal alcohol limit is 35 microgrammes (uhg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath.
Juodis, 50, formerly of Grafton Road, Worcester Park, Surrey, was charged with driving over the legal alcohol limit. At Crawley Magistrates’ Court on January 13 he admitted the charge. The court heard Juodis had similar previous convictions for drink driving. Juodis was jailed for three months and disqualified from driving for five years.
Insp Mark Robinson added: “The incident shows our officers’ determination to catch offenders and demonstrates the professionalism of our firearms officers, who are highly trained in a variety of duties above and beyond armed response.”