Jail for over-limit driver asleep with loaded gun on lap

A MAN who fell asleep in traffic with a loaded gun on his lap after he had been drinking has been jailed.

Nathan Gardier, 24, was over the limit when he nodded off in the driving seat at a set of traffic lights in east London earlier this month, while in possession of a 9mm pistol.

His barrister said Gardier claimed to have found the weapon in a field.

But that explanation was “utterly implausible”, Recorder Sally Hales QC said.

Father-of-two Gardier pleaded guilty to having a firearm and ammunition in a public place and being in charge of a motor vehicle while above the legal alcohol limit at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Gardier, of Walthamstow, was jailed for five-and-a-half years and disqualified from driving for a year.