A van driver who was seen driving along the M4 with only two tyres on his vehicle was found to be almost twice the drink-drive limit. Self-employed carpenter Laurie Rosser was caught after concerned members of the public reported the state of the van to police who located him and pulled him over.
His solicitor told Swansea Magistrates' Court that the defendant was unaware he was over the limit but that his mind had been "clouded", possibly as a result of Covid, and after two tyres had blown on his van while on the motorway he had decided not to stop on the hard shoulder but to head for a "place of safety" instead.
The court heard that in the early hours of June 26 this year South Wales Police received calls about a van with both its nearside tyres missing travelling westbound on the M4 near junction 47. Lucy Mansfield., prosecuting, said officers from the force's roads policing unit soon located the Vauxhall Vivaro in Gorseinon Road and pulled it over. The driver, 42-year-old Rosser, failed a breath test and was arrested and taken to Swansea Central Police station where a subsequent evidential test gave a reading of 66mg of alcohol in 100ml millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
