Drunk driver parked his car in fast lane of the M62 to have a nap
four years and £500 costs.
District Judge Gerallt Jones told him: “This is one of the worse cases of failing to provide I have seen. There was evidence of drink and extreme danger to other road users.”
Downey, a road gritter, was convicted of failing to provide a specimen of breath. He has previous convictions for the same ordered to pay offence and also drink driving. The court heard Downey, of Hale, near Liverpool, had left the engine running when he parked his car on the fast lane of the M62 and settled down to have a nap. Luckily, no one was hurt.
Downey tried to claim he had a medical condition and began “fitting” as officers ordered him to take a breath test at 4.10am last New Year’s Eve. PC Morrison explained how he was patrolling down the motorway when he spotted a lorry in front of him suddenly swerve to avoid a traffic collision.
He added: “I could see there was a car stopped in lane three with its brake lights on.
“I pulled over into the hard shoulder but couldn’t see anything due to the darkness of the motorway. I got my torch and shined it over to the car and I could see a person lying down and the driver’s seat had been pulled right back.
“I thought someone might have had a heart attack so I took the decision to run across the motorway and knocked on the window.
“He rose and I could smell alcohol straight away.
“I risked my life to go over there and he was just sleeping.”
The officer said he “dragged” Downey over to the hard shoulder while his colleague closed off the motorway so they could remove the parked Ford Fiesta.
PC Morrison added: “At 4.30am an officer went through the breathalyser process and gave him several opportunities to provide the test but he refused.
“I then arrested him and he collapsed. He did at one point say I had punched him in the face.
“It just became ridiculous. I had never seen anything like it before.”
Prosecutor Nicholas Turner said: “That section of the motorway was unlit and was at imminent risk of causing an accident.
“At 05.05am (Downey) arrived at Swinton Police Station and was making unrealistic signs of fitting.”
Downey argued he had suffered a fit and claimed he only passed out at the wheel due to medication he took for arthritis in his elbow.
He added: “The car I was driving was a motability car owned by my father. I believe what the police officers could smell was disinfectant not alcohol.” Downey has a previous conviction for driving with excess alcohol from 2007 and failing to provide a specimen in 2010.