Drunk lorry driver who went wrong way on motorway jailed

Hungarian national Pal Korbely drove south on the northbound carriageway for 10 miles on the evening of July 7 with his headlights off, narrowly avoiding a number of head-on collisions.

Birmingham Crown Court heard he only stopped when three lorries formed a barrier to block his path.

CCTV footage of his driving shows other motorists, including cars, lorries and a petrol tanker, swerving to avoid him.

Jailing the 50-year-old father for eight months, Judge Paul Farrer QC said: “It is little more than good fortune that nobody was killed or seriously injured.”

Phillip Bradley, prosecuting, said Korbely told police he had spent the afternoon drinking beer and brandy which was 51 per cent proof and watching the Grand Prix with two other drivers at Hilton Park service station in Staffordshire.

Mr Bradley said he had been intending to spend the night at the services before resuming his deliveries the next day.

He said: “He had no recollection of driving...he said (in police interviews) that his driving was dangerous to the max and he asked whether or not he had killed anyone.”

Korbely, who has been a heavy goods vehicle driver for 30 years, was found to have 81mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath when he was breathalysed by the police – more than twice the legal limit for driving.

He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment for dangerous driving and three months for driving with excess alcohol, to run concurrently and was banned from driving for three years. Korbely had admitted both charges at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on July 9.