A drink-driving dad who pulled over to the side of the road to have a nap in his car after a wedding reception has been sentenced. 

John Roberts, 26, of George Street, Oxford, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and driving without insurance at Swindon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (July 16).

He was first spotted by a coach driver who flagged down a police officer leaving Gablecross Police Station at around 7.20am on June 28, who said they had seen a white Volkswagen car parked on the side of the road with the driver asleep, having been sick on the car door.

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The engine was still running, the front tyre was damaged and the officer noted Roberts appeared to be incoherent and asleep.

A breathalyser confirmed he was over the legal alcohol limit at 63 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – despite the legal limit being 35 - and they also found his insurance on the vehicle had expired. 

Gordon Hotson, representing Roberts, said he was drinking at dinner while attending a wedding reception at a hotel just outside Swindon, where he had intended to stay the night, but then received a call from his girlfriend saying she was ill.

Roberts slept for a few hours before leaving early in the morning to drive to Oxford, saying he felt fine at first but began to feel unwell while driving and pulled onto the kerb, popping the tyre in the process, to be sick outside the car. 

He then parked up intending to stay there until he had recovered, but fell asleep.

Mr Hotson added Roberts accepts he made a "fundamental error of judgement" and said he had not realised the car was no longer covered by an insurance policy, as he had left it parked at his parents house for several months,  but it was taxed. 

The magistrate told him: “You were lucky the coach driver was able to spot that and alert people, so you couldn’t carry on driving.

“You did present a huge danger to other road users.”

Roberts, who has no previous convictions, said it would be difficult to travel between Bristol and Oxford to see his young children – aged three and five – if he were to be disqualified from driving.

Nevertheless, he was disqualified from driving for 16 months and issued a total fine of £405, including a surcharge and prosecution fees.