A TRUCK driver who downed half a litre of vodka while he watched his 44-tonne articulated lorry being loaded and then later flipped the trailer on a busy dual carriageway during the evening rush hour has been jailed for a year.

Darren Moorhouse, 40, drank three quarters of a bottle of the spirit as he awaited a load being put on his truck in Peterhead.

He managed to negotiate 100 miles of the A90 as he headed south to England before causing a "dramatic" smash on the Kingsway, Dundee, on April 24.

Moorhouse drove his truck, carrying 23 tonnes of peat briquettes, too quickly as he went round the Myrekirk roundabout. The offside wheels of the lorry left the road and, as Moorhouse tried to correct it as he came off the roundabout, the trailer became detached from the tractor unit before falling on to the road.

He was taken to the police station and found to be three times the drink-drive limit.

Moorhouse, 40, of Burnley, admitted driving the HGV with 111 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 milliltires of breath. The limit is 35.

He also admitted driving dangerously by attempting to negotiate the roundabout at excessive speed and losing control of the vehicle.

He was also banned from driving for three years.