Drunk driver’s erratic driving and subsequent crash caught on her own dashcam

Louise Willard was more than 2.5 times over the drink drive limit

A drunk driver's dashcam helped to secure her conviction after it captured her erratic driving and subsequent car crash.

Teacher, Louise Willard from Bexhill, East Sussex, filmed herself as she swerved across the road for several miles, clipping the kerb and swerving across the road, before she crashed into a parked car in Sussex.

A member of the public who had spotted the 41-year-old reversing and driving away from the scene and alerted the police.

After she stopped a short distance later, police officers conducted a breath test she was found to be more than two and a half times over the legal drink driving limit.

PC Nathan Langley, of the Polegate Roads Policing Unit, said: “The dangers of drink-driving are well-documented – it can seriously impair your reaction times, concentration levels, and judgement of other road users and hazards. But a lot of people may find this difficult to visualise.

“Now, through the release of this footage, we can show you exactly what it looks like to drive under the influence of alcohol, and you can see just how shocking it is.

“The scary thing is this isn’t a particularly unusual or extraordinary example of drink-driving; the driver has displayed a number of characteristics which you would typically expect. What you wouldn’t expect, of course, is for someone in such a state to get behind the wheel of their car.”

Willard pleaded guilty to drink driving and failing to stop after a road traffic collision at Hastings Magistrates' Court.

She was disqualified from driving for 24 months and also sentenced to a 12-month community order, requiring her to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Willard was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £85 victim surcharge.