Footage shows drink driver’s lucky escape near Horam

A drink driver who lost control of his van and overturned has been disqualified.

Vladimirs Vornakovs, 46, swerved and lost control of a Mercedes Sprinter van.

He claimed to have swerved to avoid a fox in the road.

Shocking footage shows him losing control of the vehicle and having to scramble out of the wreckage on the A267 near Horam.

Vornakovs was found to be more than twice the legal alcohol limit when he provided a roadside breath test.

Sussex Police is sharing the footage to raise awareness of road safety, as drink driving is one of the main factors in why people are killed or seriously injured on our roads.

At Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 8 May, Vornakovs, of Royal Anglian Way, Dagenham, admitted drink driving.

He was disqualified from driving for three years, and was ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work as part of a community order.

The court also ordered him to ay £85 costs and a £114 surcharge.

The incident happened at 12.20pm on April 19 this year on the southbound carriageway of the A267.

A witness driving in the opposite direction had to brake sharply to avoid being struck by Vornakovs' vehicle as it crashed.

Other motorists stopped and attempted to help Vornakovs to exit the vehicle, and he eventually climbed out.

Officers arrived and he denied that he had consumed alcohol, and claimed he had swerved to avoid a fox.

At the roadside, Vornakovs gave a positive breath test for 87 microgrammes (uhg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath. The legal limit is 35uhg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

In custody, he gave two further evidential readings which showed 75uhg of alcohol and 71 uhg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system respectively, still twice the legal limit.

PC Stuart Kenway from the Roads Policing Unit said: “Vornakovs is incredibly fortunate that he did not cause serious harm to himself or other road users that day.

“The dashcam footage should act as a warning to everyone about the dangers of drink driving.

“Vornakovs later told us he had attended a wedding the previous day and was drinking until 4am.

“He believed the next day he was fine to drive after having a morning coffee. But this collision shows that alcohol stays in your system for a long time, and continues to seriously impair a driver’s reactions and ability to drive safely.

“Our message is simple, do not drink and drive.”