MOTORISTS who saw a car swerving about on a motorway and forced it to a halt to prevent an accident were commended by a court yesterday.

Caroline Midgley, prosecuting, told Harrogate magistrates that Peter Nussey's black Citroen Saxo had been veering across two of the three lanes of the A1(M) at Marton-cum-Grafton, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and on to the hard shoulder.

At one point Nussey, 55, of Bellgrave Court, Coxhoe, County Durham hit a roadworks cone on the hard shoulder before Keith Hauxwell, who was driving a van towing a trailer, and articulated lorry driver John Cox decided to act.

Mr Hauxwell pulled in front of the Saxo to slow it down and Mr Cox boxed it in by pulling alongside. They brought the car to a stop and when they confronted Nussey they smelled drink.

Police were called and tests showed he was more than three and a half times the drink-drive limit.

Nussey pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

Peter Olley, mitigating, said it was his first offence and he was ashamed to have blemished a 37-year driving record. Mr Olley said Nussey, an accountant, accepted he had a drink problem and was tackling it, helped by family and his employer.

Court chairman Catherine Nickols put him on probation for a year, ordered costs of £55 and banned him from driving for two years and eight months.

She commended Mr Hauxwell and Mr Cox for their actions.