Drink-driver nearly mows down teenagers after downing most of a bottle of wine

A drunk driver who came just inches away from hitting a group of cadets with his car has been convicted.

Timothy Sledge, 59, drank nearly a whole bottle of wine before getting behind the wheel in Brampton, Cambridgeshire, on March 23.

A bystander concerned by his reckless driving flagged down a passing police car, which caught up with him and began following him.

Footage from the squad car’s dashcam shows Sledge’s Ford Fiesta veering toward a kerb as the large group of teenage cadets walks along the pavement.

It then veers back into the middle of the road just in the nick of time.

As the pursuit continues, oncoming vehicles are forced to move out of the way as Sledge’s car zig-zags across road markings.

Sledge eventually pulls over, waiting for the police car to stop behind him, but appears to suddenly drive off before any interaction with officers could take place.

The officers then pursued him at speed to a nearby housing estate, where he was found parked up.

Sledge was filmed skirting the kerb while a group of young cadets walks past

The 59-year-old was banned from driving for 17 months and fined hundreds of pounds

A roadside breathalyser test recorded him as more than three times the legal limit for blood alcohol.

Sledge, who admitted drinking the wine in custody, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was disqualified from driving for 17 months.

He has also been ordered to pay a £784 fine.

PC Francesca Lynch said it was ‘lucky he didn’t harm the many pedestrians and road users, or himself’.

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