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Reported a Drunk Driver

As other people have said, yes you did go the right thing - in his state he was lucky he did not cause a serious accident at some point during when he was drunk in the car.

Liam
 
Did you take a video of it on your phone ?

Should have done ! :)

markyp23 said:
So...

Was in my girlfriends flat and heard the most ridiculous clutch control ever and some kind of grinding noise. Scoped out of the window and saw a Mondeo struggling to reverse into a space (parallel park type thing but with no cars in front or behind). Driver, mid 20s, literally falls out of the door and walks over to the pay and display thing, looks puzzled and then starts urinating on it (or so I believe). He then continues to fumble and stumble before dropping his wallet and generally being disgustingly drunk. He's having real balance issues for a start.

He then got his keys and started trying to get into his car, at this point I called 999 and said I'd like to report a suspected drunk driver. He fell over as he tried to insert the keys to the ignition (I told them all this over the phone) and they sent a panda. The guy was trying with the keys (whilst hunched kind of into the car) but just couldn't get them into the ignition. I end the call with 999 and then he just starts running away. Police went past and then called me and I left a statement. Don't think anything can come of it if they don't catch him in the act.

So... question time
1) Did I do the right thing? Police were adament that 999 was the correct call.
2) What would you have done?
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! :eek:

Cheers
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robbiemc said:
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.
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I did the same but had a different result with Hampshire Police taking it seriously and sending a traffic car. Saw the car pulled over a about 5 minutes later after getting petrol.
 
You did the right thing. Your (online) community salutes you
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Would have done the same.

I have done before, saw a guy get sent on his way away from a car by police only to return a few minutes later acting suspiciously (saw me parked up, and he and his girlfriend got in the back of the car, kept opening the door and checking if I was still there, then the girl came over to ask what I was doing), as soon as i moved off he got in the drivers seat and started the car. I called 999 and told them which way he was heading. They were very grateful for the information.

I later found out they even sent someone to the registered keepers address to try and catch him. Unfortunately he wasn't caught, I wish I'd rang as soon as I got suspicious really.
 
People suggesting you should have rung the local police station telephone are simply wrong.

999 is to be used when there is a serious risk to life or property. That was the case.
 
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Well done you did the right thing, drink drivers are completely selfish in my eyes.

One of my old house mates used to get completely smashed and drive to the shops for more booze so I would always hide his keys from him and not give him them back no matter how angry he got. :D
 
markyp23 said:
So... question time
1) Did I do the right thing? Police were adament that 999 was the correct call.
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You did do the right thing and the cops were right to say 999 was a good and proper response.

2) What would you have done?
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The same as you did.

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! :eek:
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You may as well give the guy a gun because he is as dangerous when driving a car while inebriated. In making such calls, people often save someon'e life and that can include the driver.

Cheers
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No, cheers to you. You have done your civic duty. Sleep well tonight.
 
I had a similar situation, woken at about 3am to find a drunk stumbling around our communal drive, breaking into next doors car. Difference was when the police turned up he was literally in the process of driving it into a tree!! He then punched the first police officer ran off and was taken out by 2 other policeman...

I wasn't sure about the 999 but I was woken up by the vandalism first - After clearly trying to steal the car (engine was started) the decision was basically made - good call.

James
 
agw_01 said:
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.
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While I agree with the OP's actions entirely. I'm less sure on this one. But then that's because I'm opposed to the bit of law where a drunk person who chooses to sleep it off in their car can still be done for drunk driving.

Could've been that his Mrs just kicked him out of the house and threatened to not let him see his kids, so he drove to the off licence, bought a bottle of whisky and then went to sleep with no intention of ever driving.

Note I'm not saying that you should not have done what you did, just that it's less clear cut than the OPs situation.
 
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