HGV driver caught more than three times over the limit jailed

A HGV driver who was more than three times the legal limit for alcohol on the M6 has been jailed.

Alaiksandr Sharafanovich, 35, of no fixed address, was sentenced at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre yesterday (Wednesday 3 September) after he pleaded guilty to driving a motor vehicle when alcohol level above the legal limit.

He was stopped while driving the HGV after we spotted him on the M6 northbound on Tuesday (2 September), between junction 14 to junction 15.

After being pulled into the Stafford Motorway Services, officers from the road crime team (RCT) carried out a breath test on Sharafanovich. He blew 124 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

He was arrested and taken to custody, where a second breath test was carried out. This one was 120 micrograms of alcohol.

After being charged with the offence and taken to court, Sharafanovich was jailed for 12 weeks, disqualified from driving for 30-months-and-42-days and fined a total of £239.

Chief Inspector Scott McGrath, from the road crime team, said: “If it wasn’t for the proactive intervention of our officers, Sharafanovich could have easily gone on to cause serious injury and even death. He was well over the limit and was a significant danger to other road users and himself, all while driving a heavy goods vehicle on one of the busiest motorways in the country.

“We are acting robustly against those committing offences on our roads in Staffordshire and putting other lives at risk.”