An Alexandria lorry driver was killed by a motorist still over the limit after boozing while watching football the night before.
Michael Hall was driving at almost 90mph when he lost control of his BMW on the rain-lashed M74 near Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire.
Hall struck the HGV driven by Malcolm Easton, 42, who never survived the horror crash on May 2, 2019.
A judge heard today (Monday) how Hall was more than twice the legal drink drive limit at the time.
His QC Ian Duguid told the High Court in Glasgow: “The alcohol was from the night before in celebration of a particular football match.”
The 38 year-old car sales manager is now behind bars after he pled guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Hall will be sentenced later this month.
The smash happened around 6.30pm with heavy rain making the roads “treacherous”.
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Mr Easton of Alexandria was on the M74 northbound driving his 44-tonne HGV lorry.
Another driver meantime clocked Hall on the same stretch.
She had to brake to avoid hitting him before he “disappeared out of sight pretty quickly”.
Prosecutor Bernard Ablett then told how Hall later went on to try and overtake Mr Easton.
Hall appeared to “aquaplane” on the wet road and then spun out of control.
Mr Ablett: “He collided with Mr Easton’s HGV. Mr Easton would have had no warning that Hall’s vehicle was about to strike his.
“The force of the collision caused the HGV to jackknife, break through a crash barrier and travel around 40 metres down a steep embankment.”
Other motorists stopped to try and help Mr Easton but he had suffered a fatal head injury.
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Footage from Mr Easton’s dash cam in his truck was played in court.
Mr Ablett said the collision happened “out of view”, but that it still showed the “effect” of the horror.
When police spoke to Hall, now of Leeds, Yorkshire, he appeared “bleary eyed” and smelling of drink.
He was found to have 47mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22mg. Hall also pled guilty to that charge during the court appearance.
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Crash investigators concluded Hall had been driving at up to 89mph at the time.
His QC Mr Duguid said university graduate Hall had shown “huge remorse” for what happened.
Lord Braid remanded him in custody as sentencing was deferred for reports.
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