A man has been jailed after driving his work van while swigging champagne, rolling a cigarette and phoning his friends.

Mason James Cowgill drove along the A65 near Ingleton, North Yorkshire, last June as he drank a bottle of Bollinger – often without his hands on the steering wheel.

The 27-year-old eventually crashed into the back of a car that had stopped in traffic close to the junction of the A65 and the B6255 Tatterhorn Lane, according to North Yorkshire Police.

The vehicle was damaged in the collision but no one was injured.

Cowgill exchanged details with the driver and left the scene before police arrived.

He kept driving while making more phone calls at the wheel, nearly causing another collision.

When he reported the accident to his boss, the in-cab footage was reviewed and sent to police.

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Cowgill, of Gargrave, was sacked and received an eight-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous driving in court.

He was also disqualified from driving for 32 months and will have to undertake an extended retest.

Cowgill ‘lucky he did not kill someone’

PC Babs Parsons said: “Cowgill is lucky he did not kill or seriously injure someone that day.

“The manner in which he drove demonstrated a clear danger to other road users and I’m amazed he did not cause any more collisions.

“This was not a momentary lapse in concentration, this is a sustained period in which Cowgill paid very little or no attention at all to the road and was clearly not in control of the van he was driving.

“I thank the owner of the van for bringing this footage to our attention as it has enabled us to take a very dangerous driver off the road.”

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