Trucker who campaigned for stiffer sentences for dangerous drivers is jailed for drink-driving
James Meadowcroft, 28, ploughed into a traffic light after doing 75mph on a 30mph road
A TRUCKER who petitioned for danger drivers to get stiffer sentences crashed his Mondeo as he fled cops while over the booze limit.
James Meadowcroft, 28, ploughed into a traffic light after doing 75mph on a 30mph road.
He admitted dangerous driving and being 1½ times the alcohol limit at Minshull Street crown court in Manchester.
The campaigning lorry driver, from Radcliffe, was given a suspended six-month jail term and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.
Tests showed Meadowcroft had 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 mililitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
His lawyer John Marsh said: "He was acting as a carer for his friend for seven years and when he passed away there was a big void in his life.
He has a bad relationship with alcohol and has to been to see a GP who has put him in touch with a community alcohol team.''
The judge Mr Recorder Geoffrey Lowe said: "You drove the car so dangerously that officers felt there was a safety fear to you, and more importantly others.
In a built up area you drove at 75mph - anything could have happened and it is only by good fortune that something more serious didn't happen.''
He was also banned from driving for a year.
