Former international prop Andrew Allen had drunk a bottle of vodka the night before he drove his 30-tonne supermarket truck from his home town of Newport on a two-hour journey down the M4 and M5 before being tracked by police and arrested.
The father of three, who played for Wales three times in 1990, was so incapacitated when found in a layby by officers that he could not walk. Police described his breath test reading as ‘extraordinarily high’ – 150mgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath. The limit is 35mgs.
Allen, said to ‘absolutely devastated’ by his actions, had been spotted swerving his Tesco delivery vehicle between lanes at Haldon Hill by motorists who alerted police on Saturday afternoon.
Plymouth magistrates heard yesterday that Allen was so drunk that he had to be helped from his truck to the police patrol car.
Prosecutor Caroline Gates told the court: ‘We are very very lucky that I’m not here to tell you about a serious road traffic accident.’
The agency driver, who had no previous convictions, told officers at the scene that he was sorry and ashamed of himself.
His solicitor, Andrea Parsons, said her client was mindful that the outcome of his reckless actions could have been so much worse.
He had stopped on the A38 after feeling unwell. He had been thinking of ringing his bosses to get a relief driver to take over.
She revealed he had been suffering increasing mental health issues caused by cancer fears. These climaxed when he attended a reunion of ex-players who expressed their worries about him.
On Friday night he had downed the vodka and taken the ‘dreadful decision’ to go to work the following day.
The court was told he pulled over when the cab’s lane deviation alarm sounded.
Magistrates jailed Allen for 16 weeks as the matter was at the ‘very top end’ of sentencing guidelines.
Allen, described by his wife as a ‘completely broken man,’ was banned from driving for 164 weeks and ordered to pay a surcharge of £115.
The 51-year-old, of Orchard Lane, Newport, was heard to say ‘sorry’ twice in the direction of a his wife and one child as he was led away.