HGV driver found 'paralytically drunk' after multiple crashes reported in Staffordshire

Members of Staffordshire Police Roads Policing Unit were called to the Lammascote Road area area of Stafford on Monday evening after receiving reports of multiple road traffic collisions involving a heavy goods vehicle.

The officers intercepted the lorry at around 8pm on Foregate Street and followed it on to Lichfield Road, where they bought it to a stop safely.

After the driver Jurijs Pirogovs refused to provide a sample of breath at the roadside, he was arrested and remanded into custody.

The 51-year-old, of Chervil Rise in Wolverhampton, has been charged with driving a vehicle dangerously, driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence, failing to stop after a road accident, using a motor vehicle on a road / public place without third party insurance and assault by beating of an emergency worker.

A spokeswoman for Staffordshire Police said: "A man has been charged following reports that a lorry was being driven erratically in Stafford.

"Jurijs Pirogovs, 51, from Wolverhampton, has been charged with driving a vehicle dangerously, driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence, failing to stop after a road accident, using a motor vehicle on a road / public place without third party insurance and assault by beating of an emergency worker.

"It comes after we went to the Lammascote Road area of the town, just after 6.30pm, on Monday 22 July, following reports that a lorry was being driven erratically and had been in collision with two cars.

"A short time later, officers from our specialist road policing unit (RPU) located the lorry on Foregate Street. They followed it on to Lichfield Road, where they bought it to a stop safely.

"Pirogovs is due to appear at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre today (Wednesday 24 July)."