A DRIVER found slumped at the wheel of a car on Christmas Day has been convicted of drink-driving.

Police received a call from a member of the public concerned with how a Mazda 3 was being driven in Littlehampton at about 1.20am on December 25.

The vehicle is reported to have clipped a kerb and narrowly avoided crashing into the central reservation.

Scott Poppleton, a student, of Meadow Way, Littlehampton was disqualified from driving for 20 months at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on January 9.

He was also ordered to pay a £160 fine, £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

Before his arrest, the informant followed the vehicle until it came to a stop on a road leading to The Littlehampton Academy, before calling 999.

Officers arrived and discovered the driver slumped over the steering wheel with the engine still running.

He had been driving his mother’s car despite not being insured on the vehicle.

The 36-year-old failed a roadside breath test, and was subsequently charged with driving with 63mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in his system and driving with no insurance.

When interviewed by the police, Poppleton admitted he had been out drinking with friends in Arundel and decided to drive home, knowing he was over the limit.

He also stated he did not remember being arrested.

A total of 195 arrests were made in Sussex during Surrey and Sussex Police’s Christmas crackdown on drink and drug-driving, which ran from December 1 to January 1.

Of these, 60 have so far been convicted and a further 42 charged.

The remaining drivers have either been released under investigation, bailed or released without charge.