A RECORD number of motorists were stopped as part of the festive crackdown on Hampshire's drink drivers that saw almost 200 people arrested - including an 80-year-old.

Hampshire Constabulary has this afternoon released figures from their campaign to stop drink drivers getting behind the wheel, which revealed 195 people were arrested.

This is a drop of more than 2.5 per cent compared to last year.

It comes as officers carried out a record number of breath tests on the county's road, clocking up almost 7,000 tests during December.

Over the period, 5,925 tests were administered where a collision was not involved and of those, 150 people were arrested for providing a positive result, failing to provide or refusal.

There were 993 breath tests following a collision and of these 45 were arrested.

The highest proportion of arrested were made in Southampton - three fewer than last year - 13 arrests occurred in Eastleigh and Romsey, 17 in Fareham and Gosport and 16 in the New Forest - six more than 2013.

The oldest motorist to be arrested was 80 and the youngest was 17, while 161 of those arrested were men.

Of of those stopped was a driver of an Articulated Tanker driver who stopped on the M27 eastbound, at Rownhams.

The vehicle was a low hazardous tanker and on being stopped officers found that the driver could hardly stand up and needed to be supported.

He blew 110mg, which is over 3 times the drink drive limit and he was charged and appeared in court where he was disqualified for two years and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

Hampshire Constabulary's Road Safety Sergeant Rob Heard said: “This is just one instance where the reckless and totally irresponsible actions of a driver narrowly avoided a serious incident which could have caused many serious and fatal injuries.

He added: “These results show that Hampshire Constabulary is dedicated to reducing the risks of impaired driving on our roads.

“Driving whilst impaired greatly increases your risk of being involved in a collision and can cause devastating consequences to all involved.

“It is pleasing to see that the message is getting through with over 97 per cent of people stopped being legal to drive and a drop in the number of people over the drink drive limit from last year.

“This has been helped by the large number of people being breath tested, as each one of them will have told their family and friends and this may well have made someone think twice about taking a chance and driving whilst impaired.

“It is disappointing that 195 people tested positive, putting their own and other lives at risk through their actions.

“We will continue to target those who drive whilst impaired to make our roads safer and to prevent the devastating consequences of fatal collisions. “This is vital and important work and all of our officers and staff are dedicated to raising awareness and reducing the number of those people who think it is safe to drive whilst impaired. It's not worth the risk.”