Drunk, Asleep and Driving a Car?

Donald Clegg, a 59-year old doctor from Prestwich in the UK was four times over the legal limit when he crashed his Vauxhall Zafira into a row of parked cars. He was also sleepwalking at the time and attired in a dressing gown and slippers�
Dr. Clegg pleaded guilty to driving over the limit �without due care and attention� and was sentenced to a minimum 12 month driving ban, a fine of �650 and was ordered to pay �315 in court fees and charges. The court rejected that Dr. Clegg�s sentence should be suspended due to his somnambulism (somncogoism?).
The chairman of the bench, Jean Hinkley, told Dr. Clegg:
"We take into account you had been drinking heavily, evidenced by the high reading, and driving some distance on a major road. An accident occurred and you posed a significant risk."
His wife rang the police after she heard him leave. In retrospect, Dr. Clegg thinks he should have given up after his first incident of sleep-driving, wherein he crashed his car into a tree. He told the court:
�I did not think I would do it again. That�s the first time I had ever left the house in one of these parasomnia, sleepwalking episodes.�
From now on, Dr. Clegg will ask his wife to hide the car keys before he goes to bed. Whether or not this will be the UK doctor�s last drunken-sleep-driving incident, only time will tell.


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