Members of the public have helped take a drink driver off the county’s roads after spotting him driving erratically and looking like he was falling asleep at the wheel.

HGV driver Arturs Barisevs, 35, was spotted swerving all over the road on the M11 at 4:15pm on Sunday (October 9).

Several members of the public called the force control room and said they were concerned he would cause a collision.

One person said he looked like he was falling asleep while driving on the M11 northbound, going on to the A14 westbound towards Huntingdon from Cambridge.

Just 22 minutes later, police tracked down the HGV on the A14 westbound, between Godmanchester and Huntingdon, and stopped it in an emergency layby.

Officers asked Barisevs, from Latvia, to step out of the vehicle and once he did so they noticed he was swaying and his eyes were glazed.

He was asked to give a roadside breath test and initially refused to provide a sample, but later complied and gave a reading of 177 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Barisevs was arrested on suspicion of drink driving and a further evidential sample at the station gave a reading of 140 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath – four times the legal limit of 35 micrograms.

He was charged with the offence the following day (October 10) and appeared at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court yesterday (October 11) where he pleaded guilty and was handed three months and two weeks in prison.

Barisevs was also disqualified from driving for three years.

PC Emma Howard, who investigated, said: “We would like to praise all the members of the public who noticed Barisevs’ manner of driving on Sunday and called us to report their concerns.

“They did exactly the right thing and thanks to those calls, just two days later, Barisevs was not only banned from the roads for a considerable amount of time but is now also behind bars.”

She added: “Drink driving is one of the fatal five causes of collisions on our roads and if he wasn’t stopped when he was, the consequences of his actions could have been much worse.

“We can’t be everywhere, but this case highlights that we could be anywhere.

“This case serves as another great reminder of how your calls really help; people can help us make the roads safer for everyone by reporting drink or drug drivers to us.”