A drunk lorry driver who guzzled half a bottle of vodka before being caught five times over the drink-drive limit has been jailed.
Footage shows HGV driver Dainius Juodis finally stopping on a live lane of the M23, having failed to stop for four miles after armed police chased him down.
The 50-year-old, who has previous convictions for drink driving, was nearly five times over the limit when breathalysed.
After admitting to driving over the legal alcohol limit, he was jailed for three months and banned from driving for five years.
Crawley Magistrates’ Court heard Juodis, of Worcester Park in Surrey, had been driving a HGV on the A23 south of Crawley in the early hours of January 11.
Officers from Sussex Police’s Tactical Firearms Unit (TFU) were on a routine patrol when they noticed the lorry swerving on the carriageway north of Pease Pottage.
But despite the officers activating their blue lights, Juodis failed to stop for nearly four miles before eventually stopping in a live lane on the M23 motorway.
Video footage shows officers, who had to stop the whole carriageway, pull up alongside the lorry and shout: ‘Mate, we’ve been trying to stop you for about two miles.’
Arresting officers handcuff Juodis and tell him he’s under arrest for failing to stop, before telling him: ‘And driving whilst unfit… From what I can smell, drink.’
After blowing into a breathalyser, another officer tells him: ‘The legal limit is 35 [microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath]. [You’re] 138 – so you’ve failed.’
Juodis later tested positive for 172uhg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, having consumed half a bottle of vodka.
He was jailed for three months and disqualified from driving for five years.
Sussex Police’s TFU Inspector, Mark Robinson, said Juodis was ‘lucky’ not to have hurt anyone, given the manner of his driving.
‘This was a shocking incident, with a lorry driver found nearly five times over the legal alcohol limit,’ he said.
‘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.
‘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 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.’
The arrest follows the rise in drink and drug driving reported during Sussex Police’s winter campaign ‘Operation Limit’, which ran between December 1 and January 1.