Bus driver’s passengers reported him for drink driving

A bus driver lost his licence and his job after his passengers realised he was drink driving and called the police.
CourtCourt
Court

Peter Heale, 32, of Beech Road, Horsham, was arrested in Crawley on July 11.

He was given a five month jail sentence, suspended for 15 months, with 200 hours of unpaid work, an £80 victim surcharge, £85 costs, and a £150 criminal courts charge.

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He was also banned from driving for two years and eight months.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The court heard he was driving a Metro bus around the area while he was drunk.

“The passengers on his bus were so worried about his driving as he was swerving and nearly crashed, that they got off and called the police.

“Heale then took the bus back to the depot and walked around the town.

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“He was found by police an hour later and arrested on suspicion of drink driving. He blew a reading of 136 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.”

The legal limit is 35mcg alcohol per 100ml breath.

Magistrates said the offence was particularly serious because of the high breath alcohol reading, the fact that passengers on a public vehicle were put in danger, the risk of serious harm to other road users, and the fact that there had been a near miss.

A spokesman for Metrobus said: “We take the issue of the consumption of alcohol very seriously and employ measures to control this with all our staff both before and while on duty.

“This includes both random and ‘with cause’ breath tests. The driver concerned in this incident is no longer in our employment.”

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