Road safety: Drivers deemed unfit to take wheel

Thousands of company car drivers travelling across Britain are in an unfit state to be behind the wheel, according to a survey published yesterday.

Fifteen per cent of drivers questioned admitted they had fallen asleep at the wheel and 12.5 per cent said they had driven while above the drink- drive limit in the past two years, according to the study by the vehicle management company Lease Plan.

The authors of the report said the findings were worrying and called on employers to urge the estimated 3 million company car drivers to take more breaks during journeys. Anti drink-driving campaigners and motoring organisations agreed with the report's findings and said more had to be done to educate drivers. Maria Cape, of the Campaign Against Drinking and Driving, said the figures highlighted the fact that a hard core of drink-drivers continued to ignore the law.

"This must be the people who have drink problems or who are too selfish to go without a drink when they are driving," she said.