Drink driver caught dozing at traffic lights in Hastings

Jimi Rushbrook, 29, an engineer, of Old Harrow Road, was arrested after he was found asleep in his car at a set of traffic lights in South Terrace, shortly before 6am.

Police received a call from a member of the public who said he had stopped behind a vehicle which was stationary at the lights with the engine running.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “A postman also stopped as he saw the vehicle at the lights with another vehicle behind.

“He went to the car - the engine was running - and saw a man asleep at the wheel snoring.

“He took the keys from the car and put them on the roof, but did not try to wake the man; he waited for police to arrive.

“As officers arrived, the man was still asleep at the wheel and it took officers some encouragement to wake him up.

“He opened his eyes and he seemed not to know where he was or who they were.

“He was asked if he was OK, but he wasn’t able to speak; he just mumbled.

“Officers got the man out of the vehicle, and he was very unsteady and smelt of alcohol.”

At Hastings Magistrates’ Court on January 7, Rushbrook pleaded guilty to driving with 104mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system.

The legal limit is just 35mg.

He was disqualified from driving for 25 months, ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work, and pay £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

A total of 182 arrests were made in Sussex in December as part of Operation Dragonfly, Surrey and Sussex Police’s Christmas 2015 campaign to crackdown on drink and drug-driving.

People in Sussex can text officers on 65999 with the details of people they suspect of drink or drug driving or visit http://www.operationcrackdown.co.uk/

You can also contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 (http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/).

If you know someone is driving while over the limit or after taking drugs, call 999.

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