Driver’s snooze with gun on lap

A DAD-of-two fell asleep in his car at traffic lights with a loaded gun on his lap after he had been drinking.

Nathan Gardier was over the limit when he nodded off in the vehicle while in possession of a 9mm pistol.

The 24-year-old said he found the weapon in a field.

He pleaded guilty to having a firearm and ammunition in a public place, and drink driving in the incident in east London.

Recorder Sally Hales QC, sitting at Snaresbrook Crown Court, jailed Gardier, of Walthamstow, for five-and-a-half years.

She said: “In your case the harm you presented was worse because the firearm was loaded, ready to be fired, with a bullet in the chamber.”