Spaghetti munching trucker

A lorry driver caught steering with his knees while he ate spaghetti from a pan has been jailed for eight weeks after he admitted dangerous driving. Martin Veens from the Netherlands, was spotted driving his left-hand 40-tonne truck erratically along the A55 road near Northop, Flintshire.

Prestatyn Magistrates heard how the North Wales Police helicopter's camera filmed him holding and eating from a saucepan as he steered with his knees. Magistrates were shown the footage taken by the police at the hearing.

It showed Veens, who was driving for a logistics firm based at Blakenham near Ipswich, straddling the white lines in the road as he used his left hand to hold a saucepan of food and his right hand holding a fork and steered the truck with his legs. It was travelling up the steep Rhuallt Hill and was stopped a few miles further at Northop.

The court heard how Veens accepted his driving was dangerous. His solicitor said it was agreed it had been an outstandingly stupid thing to do.

Veens was delivering chicken carcasses from Llangefni in Anglesey to Nottingham and had heated the spaghetti while the lorry was being loaded, the court heard.

He had not eaten throughout the journey but only when he thought it was safe. He was banned from driving for a year and must take an extended test before driving a heavy goods vehicle again.

Chief Supt Geraint Anwyl, of North Wales Police, welcomed the sentence. He said: "This is a further example of some of the unacceptable and dangerous practices of long-distance lorry drivers travelling on our roads. The frightening thing is that this is not an isolated incident."