Sky Sports pundit and former footballer, Paul Merson, sustained facial injuries and wrote his car off after he crashed the £40,000 Mercedes after falling asleep at the wheel in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The ex Arsenal football player was said to be lucky to be alive after his luxury Mercedes ML350 vehicle smashed into the central reservation and ploughed into a lorry at 3am when Merson fell asleep at the wheel. After he failed a breath test on the side of the M40 motorway near Warwick, the 43-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and blood samples were taken away for police evidence.

It’s been reported that the former sportsman was driving back to his home in Sutton Coldfield after attending a Children in Need event in South London when the accident occurred.

The police later confirmed that the driver of the Mercedes was arrested on suspicion of driving while over the legal drink drive limit.
A source revealed that the sports pundit had not been wearing a seatbelt at the time of crash and that the car had spun out of control before smashing through the central reservation.

Although the luxury Mercedes car is thought to be a write off, no one was seriously injured in the crash. Paul Merson sustained a cut to the face which required stitches and the drive of the lorry reportedly suffered whiplash injuries.