‘Paralytic’ drink driver nearly crashes head-on into Warwickshire Police car - and then falls out of his van​​​​​​​

A drink driver who nearly crashed head-on into a police car has been banned from driving for five years.

Lee Hibell had been driving his van along Brook Walk in Mancetter during the early hours of the morning when he came around a bend on the wrong side of the road, almost colliding with a police car travelling in the opposite direction.

Fortunately the officer was able to make an emergency stop in order to prevent a crash and parked behind the van. Police spotted the van rocking as the driver and passenger switched places.

Warwickshire Police said: "The officer and his colleague approached the van and quickly identified that Lee Hibell was the driver and that he had been drinking owing to the beer cans seen in the footwell of the van, the fact that he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, his eyes were glazed and there was a smell of intoxicating liqueur about him."

In fact, he was so drunk that police said he "fell out of the vehicle" in a "paralytic" state.

He was arrested for drink driving and in custody blew 48mg in 100ml of breath, well above the 35mg limit.

Hibell, age 36, of Adrians Close, Mancetter, was sentenced to a five-year driving ban and 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, after pleading guilty to drink driving, and driving whilst disqualified and with no insurance after appearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court on June 19.

He was also sentenced to 140 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £154 victim surcharge and £330 costs.

PC Johnny Howells who was in the police car that day said “Lee Hibell is a danger to himself and others on the roads and the sentence reflects that. When we asked him to get out of the van, he was paralytic and fell out of the vehicle.

"He now has a five-year driving ban and will have to rely on public transport and his friends and family to transport him around. He also will not be able to drive for work and this could affect his income. The van was also seized under s165 for no insurance and he will face a custodial sentence if he fails to comply with this sentence.

“In 2020 an estimated 6,480 people were killed or injured in the UK when one of the drivers involved was over the drink-drive limit. Lee Hibell is lucky he didn’t kill or injure someone that day. If he had, the sentence for causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs is up to 14 years with a minimum two year driving ban and extended retest.”

“We are working as part of Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership to reduce death and injury on our roads but to achieve that we need drivers like Lee Hibell to drive safely and to consider the potential consequences of drink driving for themselves and other road users. “