Drivers on the M5 near Worcester were shocked to see a man staggering around on the hard shoulder and lying down on the carriageway, a court has heard.

Andrew Mead, who was found to be three times over the drink-drive limit, wandered on and off the motorway between junctions five and six and threw something at the windscreen of a lorry.

“Horns were blaring as motorists saw him,” Paul Whitfield, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court. “He was wandering off the hard shoulder and from time to time he would lie down on the first carriageway.”

Shortly before, he had been visiting his family and had taken his father's £18,000 Audi A6 from their house in Wychbold after spending the night there drinking whisky, Mr Whitfield said.

On the morning of March 28 this year, he drove south on the M5 to go back to the house he had been sharing with his partner in Wyld’s Lane, Worcester.

He was in a crash with another car and carried on weaving across the motorway, before pulling onto the hard shoulder.

He was near a CCTV camera on a bridge and was seen to throw something at an Argos lorry, shattering the windscreen and forcing the driver to pull over.

Police searched the car and found a black holdall containing cannabis. Mead was breath tested and found to be three times over the limit.

The 29-year-old, now of Stoke Lane, Wychbold, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, obstructing the highway, damaging a vehicle and possession of cannabis.

Mr Whitfield said police accepted Mead’s explanation he had found the bag with the drugs behind a hedge near Wyld’s Lane while looking for a pet animal.

Judge Patrick Thomas said it was a “serious set of offences” but he believed it was a one-off and wanted to avoid sending Mead to prison.

He asked Mead's father, retired engineer John Mead, to tell the court about his son and to discuss a suitable plan for the future with defending counsel Paul Stanley.

Mr Mead said his son was intelligent but had not made as much of his potential as his three brothers.

Mr Stanley later told the court Mead had been offered a job two days a week in a timber firm connected to the family, was considering further education and would continue to attend Pathways over alcohol and drugs misuse.

The judge deferred sentence until April 30 next year when he will be sitting at Birmingham Crown Court.

He said he would take into account all that has happened in the meantime and would ask for another probation report.

Mead also admitted summary driving offences and was banned from the road.