VIDEO: Drink driver falls over after Mannings Heath crash

CCTV footage released by police shows a Plummers Plain man who crashed his car could not stand when he was arrested.
Drink driver Robert Hutchinson is helped to his feet by a police officerDrink driver Robert Hutchinson is helped to his feet by a police officer
Drink driver Robert Hutchinson is helped to his feet by a police officer

Robert Hutchinson, 59, was almost five times over the limit when he crashed his Nissan Almera head on into a Ford Ka on the A281 in Mannings Heath at 5.45pm on Friday January 30, police said.

He was banned from the roads for five years.

The driver of the Ford, a 42-year-old woman from Plummers Plain, suffered slight injuries. Hutchinson was not injured.

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When police arrived they found Hutchinson was still sitting behind the wheel of his car.

Footage recorded inside Worthing Custody Centre shows Hutchinson falling off a chair while waiting to be breathalysed. In the video, an officer has to help him to his feet.

He told police he had been drinking for several hours at home that afternoon but had decided to go shopping for food and then crashed his car.

He had already served a ban for drink-driving after being convicted in 2009 and did not have a driving licence.

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Hutchinson, of Fir Tree Close, Plummers Plain, pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance when he appeared at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on February 23.

He was banned from driving for five years, given an 18-week prison sentence suspended for two years, told to do 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

Chief inspector Phil Nicholas, from Surrey and Sussex roads policing unit, said: “The footage shows just how drunk Hutchinson was, yet he thought that it was acceptable for him to drive in that condition.

“It is vital that we get people who think that it’s ok to drink and drive off the roads.

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“We need the public’s help to tell us whenever they see someone who could be drink-driving so that we can act before someone is seriously hurt or even killed.”

People in Sussex can text officers on 65999 with the details of people they suspect of drink or drug driving or visit www.operationcrackdown.co.uk