Estimates for 2022 <\/a>show that between 290 and 320 people were killed in collisions in the UK as a result of drink driving.<\/p>\nDurham Constabulary has released a montage of the worst drink drivers of 2025 as part of its Christmas driving campaign Operation Limit, which showed drivers so drunk they could barely talk.<\/p>\n
One of the clips shows bodycam footage of a police officer saying: “One of the teachers has raised concerns that you’re under the influence of alcohol and obviously, you’ve got a coach full of kids.”<\/p>\n
The driver was found to be more than twice the legal limit while driving children into Durham city centre.<\/p>\n
The exasperated police officer tells him: “You\u2019re over twice the legal limit with a bus load of kids.”<\/p>\n
The driver responds: “I can\u2019t believe it”, to which the officer replies “well I can”.<\/p>\n
Another clip shows a drunk van driver telling officers: “You can\u2019t tell me what I can and can\u2019t do.” He then falls asleep in front of stunned officers.<\/p>\n
Another inebriated man is filmed denying driving home drunk while clearly sitting in the driving seat with his hands on the wheel.<\/p>\n
One video shows a drink driver being arrested after crashing into a tree on the A19.<\/p>\n
Moments later, another drunk driver smashes into the wrecked motor, narrowly missing police officers.<\/p>\n
Another clip shows a couple who are so drunk they locked themselves inside their own car.<\/p>\n
Other drivers are seen flying into rages as they are arrested for being over the limit, while others just don’t seem to care.<\/p>\n
One clip shows a man face down in handcuffs saying: “Well if they’re dead, they’re dead.”<\/p>\n
He then chuckles and says: “My life’s f***** anyway mate.”<\/p>\n
The video also shows the low points many of the people find themselves in when they’ve been caught, as the realisation of the seriousness of the crime dawns on them.<\/p>\n
Another man breaks down in tears and begs officers: “I\u2019m a good lad. I\u2019m the best of the best from this town, I\u2019ve got a career.<\/p>\n
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The police spend a considerable amount of time detaining drunk drivers. (PA)<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve got a good job, I\u2019ve got a mortgage. I don\u2019t cause nobody no harm.”<\/p>\n
In another video, a man bursts into tears in the back of a police car as he begs officers, “I just wanna go home.”<\/p>\n
Throughout the nearly eight-minute clip police officers appear at their wits’ end as they deal with drivers who are often so drunk they can not answer simple questions.<\/p>\n
The video has already gone viral with hundreds of thousands of views and shares online.<\/p>\n
A police spokesperson said: “Excuses, apologies, and angry slurring of words follow, but there simply is no justification for driving under the influence.<\/p>\n
“Some of the collisions we\u2019ve included in this video resulted in serious injuries.”<\/p>\n
What are the punishments for drink-driving?<\/p>\n
Drink driving is a serious crime, if you’re caught behind the wheel above the legal limit, you could face up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, a driving ban or a combination of all three.<\/p>\n
If police suspect you are over the limit and refuse to take a test, you can face a similar punishment.<\/p>\n
If you are banned from driving as a result of a drink driving conviction, you may be able to reduce your ban by taking a drink-drive rehabilitation scheme course if you\u2019re banned from driving for 12 months or more, if the court offers it to you.<\/p>\n
If you cause a death while drunk driving, you face life imprisonment and a lengthy ban from driving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A driver over the limit in charge of a coach full of children, a man driving while missing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[96359,120279,59,57,58,120280,50,88037,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-298599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-drink-driving","9":"tag-durham-police","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greatbritain","13":"tag-legal-limit","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-police-officer","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}