A COACH driver has been cleared of dangerous driving.

Peter Huggett was at the wheel when his National Express service from London to Poole veered off the M27 west of Southampton onto |the hard shoulder, up an embankment and then back across the three lanes, a court heard.

Southampton Crown Court had been told how this could have been down to Mr Huggett falling asleep.

But a jury of nine women and three men took just two hours to find Peter Huggett unanimously not guilty.

Mr Huggett, 55, of Green Road, Poole, who has been driving coaches for around 25 years, had told the court how he lost consciousness while at the wheel.

He added that after stopping for three to four minutes he had decided it was safer to drive on to the next stop at Ringwood rather than stay on the hard shoulder.