In The Darkest Evening Of The Year, Dean Koontz has one of his characters tell an anecdote about a blind man who regularly drives a car whilst his guide dog sits beside him, nudging him to give directions and keep him on the straight and narrow.

I find the author Mr. Koontz to be very fond of sticking his tongue firmly into his cheek, but I do suspect that little snippets of his fiction are based in fact, like the story above.

So it was with a growing feeling of smug joy that I read of the blind, French journalist who was given a suspended jail sentence and fined for driving without a licence and under the influence.

The car's owner, who was in the passenger seat, was also found to be drunk.

The blind, drunk driving the blind drunk you might say.