News

A Liverpool truck driver who took a nap in his cab on the inside lane of the A55 in North Wales has been jailed for 100 days. Although the sentence has been suspended for 12 months he has also been banned from driving for two years and given a 100-hour community punishment order. Joseph Dignam was earlier convicted of dangerous driving by the Llandudno magistrates. He was ordered to pay £455 costs and to take an extended driving test.

The magistrates were told that Dignam had stopped,  exhausted, after missing a lay-by on the dual carriageway close to the Penmaenbach tunnel, west of Conwy. Dignam had driven for 14 or 15 hours in a day. He had snoozed at the wheel as fast-moving westbound traffic swerved past his 38-tonne Irish-registered artic. Dignam told police who responded to a report of a "broken down" truck: "I'm just tired, I'm taking a rest." He said he had taken insufficient rest because he feared being sacked if he missed a ferry from Holyhead, Anglesey to the Irish Republic.

Dignam told magistrates: "I would have been sacked if I didn't break the rules. I was told to make sure I got the ferries." He added that he was very sorry for what happened. He had driven from London and was heading for Dublin. The magistrates considered that the offence of dangerous driving was so serious that only a suspended prison sentence was suitable.