Bus driver was found drunk at the wheel
A bus driver from Stourbridge collapsed at the wheel while two and a half times over the legal limit after drinking a bottle of vodka the day before her morning shift.
Sheryl Williams claimed she had not eaten anything for six days before she drove a Dennis Dart bus around Cannock for almost three hours on January 2.
She began work at 6.30am but at 9.20am police received a report that a bus driver had collapsed while driving.
The only passenger on Williams' bus had phoned an ambulance after Williams stopped the bus to be ill by the roadside in Mill Lane. The 43-year-old, of High Street, Lye, was taken to Russells Hall Hospital. She was breathalysed and had 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
At Cannock Magistrates' Court, prosecutor Mr John Peel said: "She said she had not eaten for six days and consumed a small bottle of vodka on January 1."
Williams has lost her job with Hanson's bus firm after five-and-a-half years. She admitted driving when over the limit and was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
She was also told to do 60 hours of unpaid work.
