Off-duty police officer caught van driver, 30, double the limit in Guildhall Walk after his slumped head hit horn

Adelino Chacha, 30, of Cotton Road, Baffins, had been out drinking in Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, after rowing at home with his sister.

He left to go drinking and find his friends at around 3.20am in a bid to avoid seeing the argument ‘escalate’ with his sister.

CCTV recorded him going to bars before he clambered back into a works van parked in Guildhall Walk.

Mitigating, Saleem Chaudhry told Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court his client’s ‘slumped head caused a noise’ and added: ‘It was an off-duty officer that was in the vicinity and then found the keys in the ignition.’

Chacha admitted being over the limit in charge of a vehicle on February 23.

A breath test done at 7.40am in the police station shows he had 88 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Prosecutor Giles Fletcher said: ‘CCTV had seen the defendant, he’s parked up. He’s then gone into Guildhall Walk for some time and then seen to go back to the (van) and then sometime later he’s slumped over the steering wheel.

‘I think his head is on the horn. People called the police. Keys are in the ignition when they turn up.’

The ignition was not fully on but the headlamps and wipers were on, the court heard.

District judge Gary Lucie fined him £300 with a £32 victim surcharge and £85 prosecution costs. Chacha has previous when he was handed a two-year ban.

Imposing 10 points on his licence, judge Lucie said: ‘You’ve got to drive very, very carefully for the next three years.

‘A simple speeding offence would put you over the limit.’