Belarusian lorry driver in Lymm M6 services crash after drink-driving

Alexander Kholchelkov has now been sentenced after a test revealed that he was more than three times over the legal limit for alcohol. The 35-year-old, whose address on court documents is given as Leshinskaya, in the Gomel region of Belarus, was charged with drink-driving. He made a first appearance in relation to the charge before Chester Magistrates' Court recently, where he entered a guilty plea.

The court proceeded to pass sentence, with Scott Woodward, prosecuting, explaining that the charge related to an incident that occurred on New Year's Day. Kholchelkov was behind the wheel of a HGV on January 1, driving it in a 'very poor' manner and crashing into other vehicles at Lymm Services. Cheshire Police attended the scene at the service station, off the M6 and M56, and conducted a roadside breath test.

The defendant produced a reading of 119 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of his breath, with the legal limit being 35 microgrammes. Before sentencing, district judge John McGarva commented that the case had crossed the custody threshold, with the offence being so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified. He highlighted that the defendant was more than three-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit when driving a heavy goods vehicle.

Judge McGarva also stated that the standard of driving was 'very poor', resulting in collisions with other vehicles. However, taking the defendant's guilty plea into account, and due to his lack of previous convictions, the jail term was not made to be an immediate one. Kholchelkov was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, but this was suspended for the next 12 months.

No requirements, such as unpaid community work, were attached to the suspended sentence, but the defendant was told that he must pay court costs of ?85 and a surcharge of ?154.

In addition, the court imposed a driving disqualification for two years.