Jailed: HGV driver caught more than three times over the limit on M6 was 'significant danger to other road users and himself'
A lorry driver caught with more than three times the legal limit for alcohol on the M6 in Stafford has been banned from the road and locked up.
Alaiksandr Sharafanovich, aged 35, of no fixed address, was sentenced at Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court on Wednesday (Sep 3) after he pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle with an alcohol level above the legal limit.
Staffordshire Police said he was stopped while driving the HGV on the M6 northbound the previous day between junction 14 for Stone and junction 15 for Stoke-on-Trent.
After being pulled into the Stafford Motorway Services, officers from the road crime team carried out a breath test on Sharafanovich. He blew 124 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
He was arrested and taken to custody, where a second breath test was carried out. This one was 120 microgrammes.
Sharafanovich was jailed for 12 weeks, disqualified from driving for 30 months and 42 days and ordered to pay a total of £239.
Chief Inspector Scott McGrath, from the road crime team, said: “If it wasn’t for the proactive intervention of our officers, Sharafanovich could have easily gone on to cause serious injury and even death.
"He was well over the limit and was a significant danger to other road users and himself, all while driving a heavy goods vehicle on one of the busiest motorways in the country.
“We are acting robustly against those committing offences on our roads in Staffordshire and putting other lives at risk.”
