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Drunk HGV driver could have caused “catastrophic” disaster after making a U-turn on the M6 in ■■■■■■■
A DRUNK HGV driver, who could have caused a “catastrophic” disaster after making a U-turn on the M6 in ■■■■■■■■ has been spared jail.
Martin Vincent Kelly was more than three times the drink-drink limit when he did a U-turn on the M6 at Shap, Furness Magistrates’ Court was told.
The Barrow court heard how another motorist was forced to take evasive action by mounting the grass verge to get his car out of the way of the Volvo Euro 500 HGV.
Luckily there was no collision and no-one was injured in the terrifying incident on August 12.
Kelly, 32, had drunk a quarter-bottle of vodka about an hour before the incident when he stopped at a motorway service station. His roadside breath reading recorded by police was 107 microgrammes of alcohol, in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes of alcohol.
The defendant, of Omagh, Northern Ireland, appeared at court in Barrow today and pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle dangerously and driving a motor vehicle when the alcohol level was above the limit.
Prosecutor, Mr Peter Kelly, said: “He has been turning back against the flow of one-way traffic. It’s a reading of 107 microgrammes of alcohol on the M6 and from someone driving a HGV. There is no accident fortunately. There was a risk of serious injury to others.”
Referring to the driver who was forced to mount the grass verge, Mr Kelly said: “His attention was drawn to a HGV on the hard shoulder which was starting to move. He moved lanes to allow the lorry to move out. The truck turned sharply and was making a U-turn.”
The court heard how Kelly had been drinking vodka an hour before and how the driver of the other vehicle found Kelly to be dazed and not wearing any shoes.
Defending Kelly, Mr Graham Quigley said the defendant was a man of previous good character, who is “deeply sorry for what happened,” and had cooperated with police.
He said Kelly had driven HGVs for some years, with experience of driving across the UK. He was employed by AGRO Merchants Group in the garage. However he was doing weekend work driving HGVs.
Mr Quigley said Kelly had an alcohol problem. In November 2016 he was in rehab and he was discharged in February 2017. Two months later he started his job.
The defence solicitor said Kelly was not in a good mood after being disturbed by a crowd on the ferry over to Cairnryan. Mr Quigley said Kelly had trouble with his sat nav and he was rebooting it on the hard shoulder, but then he may have blacked out. “The next thing he remembers is seeing the man (the car driver),” he said.
Mr Quigley asked Kelly what had happened, but the solicitor said: “He can’t tell me.”
Mr Quigley said Kelly was the father of a four-week-old baby, a two-year-old and his wife is in remission from cancer. He received excellent references from his employer which expressed that his “remorse is unequivocal”.
Giving a pre-sentence report, Brian Carruthers of the probation service said: "He is extremely remorseful about it. He has been having flashbacks about what could have happened. He understands that it could have been catastrophic and he could have killed many people that day.
“It has frightened the life out of him what could have happened.”
Mr Carruthers said Kelly had not had a drink since, and was attending AA meetings and doing a 90-step rehab programme. Kelly’s family are behind him, and Mr Carruthers said if Kelly went to prison his wife would struggle to pay the household bills and they could lose their home.
Chairman of the magistrates, Mr Gary Ormondroyd, told Kelly: “Your actions were potentially catastrophic.”
Kelly, of Drumnakelly Road, was sentenced to 26 weeks in custody and six weeks in custody, both suspended for two years. He was also banned from driving for two years and will have to take an extended retest after the disqualification period. He was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
