M4: Drink driver hit with long ban after motorway crash

Danny Preece, of London Road in Twyford, has been sentenced for a string of driving offences. The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to failing without reasonable cause to surrender to custody at Salisbury Magistrates’ Court on August 10 having been released on bail in criminal proceedings on June 8, 2023. He changed his pleas of not guilty to guilty regarding other charges which state that he drove a BMW 320D along the M4 near Swindon on September 10, 2022, without due care and attention, without insurance and without a test certificate.

At the time, he had 84 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath in his system and failed to stop after an accident in which damage was caused to a Honda Civic. The defendant must pay GBP300 in compensation as well as GBP300 in court costs plus GBP154 to fund victim services, and received an 18-week prison sentence which has been suspended for two years along with a community order requiring him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and up to 12 rehab activity days. He has been banned from driving for 46 months.

Court documents note that he has an “appalling driving record” and “put the public at risk”.