A LORRY driver has been ordered to undergo treatment for alcohol dependency after crashing through a hedge into a crop field while drink-driving.

Joseph Phillip Ceaser, 39, of Merestone Road, Hereford, pleaded guilty drink-driving Swindon Magistrates’ Court last month.

Police said they were called to a lorry that had swerved over the white central line and crashed into a field by members of the public on August 22.

Officers were joined at the scene by paramedics, and Ceaser was arrested after failing a roadside breath test.

He was taken to Gablecross Police Station where he provided a reading three times the legal limit, with 102 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

Ceaser was disqualified from driving for 24 months, handed a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to carry out a six-month alcohol dependency treatment programme.

He must also pay costs of £85 and a £95 victim surcharge.

PC Sam Bridgeman, of the Swindon Community Policing Team, said: "We continue to stress the dangers of drink driving and there is no excuse to get behind the wheel of a vehicle whilst under the influence of drink.

“In doing so, you have reduced capacity to control the vehicle you are driving, putting other road users at significant risk, especially when that vehicle is a HGV.

“It is only luck that Ceaser, who was highly intoxicated when we arrived at the scene of the collision, did not bring harm to anyone else on the road that day.

“We are thankful to the members of public who not only called us with their concerns regarding Ceaser’s driving but also stopped and ensured that Ceaser did not attempt to continue his journey.

“We will continue to show a zero tolerance policy to drink and drug driving and hope that Ceaser understands the severity of his actions.”