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Reported a Drunk Driver

While on the way to a local takeaway in the early hours of the morning, me and a few mates walked past a car parked up at the side of the road.

In the car there was quite an old guy, towel on his lap and a half consumed bottle of whiskey. He was asleep.

A mate of mine called the police who were there within about 5 minutes (Police van drove past first, probably to check the car was there. They turned turned back around to be joined by a panda car).

Felt a bit guilty but definitely the best thing to do. If the contents of the bottle weren't alcoholic then the guy had nothing to worry about. He was still fast asleep though, despite the police trying to wake him.
 
MrMoonX said:
bit excessive calling 999, you should have called your local police number, im sure the 999 operator was well impressed
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Don't be ridiculous, if the guy was going to attempt driving that car it would have put people in the are in immediate danger, 999 was totally the correct call IMHO.

edit: plus if it's anything like where we live, the local number is constantly engaged.
 
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1) Did I do the right thing? Police were adament that 999 was the correct call.
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yes - a person in charge of a car who is THAT drunk might as well be waving around a loaded shotgun.

2) What would you have done?
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The same.

3) Does anyone think that this guy isn't the absolute guts of society? I'm not joking when I say he was REALLY drunk. As in, I've had a mate who's had a "stomach pump" and on that night he had better balance than this!
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I can't really judge as he could have mental health problems, gone out with no intention of driving, been on medication etc. The thing is, when you get THAT drunk, you don't really know what you're doing. It's never ok to drink and drive of course but it's a shame he wasn't out with some good mates who could have stopped him going near a car.
 
999 should be used foir "crimes being comitted".
As this was the case then yes, you were spot on with your call.
You'd call local police numbers if you knew of somebody who regularly drove drunk, however you were not aware of a crime being comitted at the time.

Drink/Drivers are pretty much the lowest of the low in the motoring world.
 
he could have driven off and mowed into a bus stop full of people.

you totally did the right thing. The only alternative was to go downstairs and subdue him till the cops came, but he could've been a total violent junkie with a knife or something.
 
http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/newsroom/blog/Display.aspx?bid=66

"Our guide for the use of 999 is as follows:
• There is a danger to life or risk of injury being caused, such as a serious road accident or assault "

Yes you made the right call.

The wrong call would be like the guy in that thread who reckoned it was the correct thing to call 999 for a guy scraping another car in a petrol station then driving off, apparently that meant he was likely a murderer or a rapist or something about to go and commit crimes. :D
 
At least you had some sort of result. When I was following a clearly drunk driver late one night (Swerving, erratic speed, hitting the kerb etc) we called 999 only to be told by the operator that there's nothing they can do!
We even told them the name of the road, direction he was travelling and number plate, but until a police car actually observed him doing something wrong, they wern't interested. Sigh.
 
right thing to do. Don't see how 999 would be ****ed off considering you probably stopped the ambulance and fire brigade having to come out if he did manage to get the car started.
 
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