The county's top traffic policeman today blamed soaps such as Coronation Street for encouraging viewers to drink and drive.

Superintendent Paul Morrison hit out after one in eight drivers failed a breath test over the Easter weekend, with one man six times over the limit.

The police chief said characters such as the Street's Steve Mcdonald glamorised drink driving.

TV programmes sent the wrong message to people by showing pubs packed at lunchtime, the police officer said.

He wants soap storylines to show bar-room regulars getting arrested and banned to reflect the consequences of drink driving. One in eight drivers breath-tested in a Sussex Police crackdown over the Easter weekend were over the alcohol limit.

In one case a 44-year-old man had six times the legal amount of alcohol in his system.

Supt Morrison told The Argus a hard core of drink-drivers believe they can get away with it - and the drinking habits of popular TV characters like taxi firm boss Steve McDonald could be to blame.

He said: "If you look at programmes like Coronation Street, they are all drinking.

"The taxi cab bloke is always in the Rovers at dinnertime having a drink.

"It would be nice to see people who seem to be drinking and driving on some of these popular TV programmes getting nicked from time to time."

He said no single programme is to blame but soap operas in particular are able to influence people's habits by showing people drinking then apparently going about their normal business.

He said: "So many of them glamorise drinking.

"They are meant to appeal to the public because they are a snapshot of every day life.

"You only have to read the papers to see how much effect TV programmes have on people's lives.

"When everybody drinks it doesn't give a good message.

"I'm not sure if it is a factor, but it is not helpful."

Sussex Police's road policing unit ran a campaign between Good Friday and Easter Monday to target drink drivers. Of 311 people tested, 40 people tested positive for alcohol - a 12 and a half per cent arrest rate.

In the most shocking example, 44-year-old Peter Banks, of Queens Road, East Grinstead, had 210 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath when he was tested.

The legal limit is 35 microgrammes. The arresting officers said it was the highest leve they had ever recorded. Banks was banned from driving for five years and sentenced to four months' imprisonment.

Sussex Police aim to breathalyse all drivers who are involved in accidents. They are urging people to plan their nights out in advance so they do not get behind the wheel after drinking.

Supt Morrison said: "There is always a chance you're going to have a crash, and it is increased when you drink.

"You are going to be breath-tested and you are going to lose your licence."

Simon Gregson, the actor who plays Steve McDonald, was himself convicted of drink-driving in 2006.

The actor posed for photos outside the soap's pub, the Rovers Return, with a placard reading "Don't drink and drive".

A spokeswoman for Granada, the company which makes Coronation Street, said none of the show's characters drink and drive.

Steve McDonald character no longer drives professionally on the show, devoting his time to running the firm's office and working at the Rovers Return.

She said: "He doesn't drive the cabs as a cabbie, he drives the cabs as a driver.

"He works full-time as the owner of the Rovers.

"He doesn't drink and drive. "Coronation Street does have people drinking in the pub during the day, but there is nothing to suggest they drive afterwards.

"Lloyd Mullaney who drives the taxis on the show does go into the pub at lunchtime. We make a point that he orders an orange juice."

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