A new survey published by road safety charity Brake, has revealed that one in five drivers have risked driving the morning after a night of heavy drinking, despite concern that they may still be over the drink-drive limit.

According to the survey of 1,000 drivers, almost one in ten people said they drive the ‘morning after’ a night out at least once a month. The study also revealed that 12 percent of people would drive at 8am or earlier after a night out, and 21 percent of drivers would drive at 11am or earlier, when they could still be over the limit.

It takes around three hours for the body to break down the alcohol in a large glass of wine or pint of strong lager and Brake has developed an online calculator to help people gauge when they may be safe to drive after drinking the night before.

Latest figures released by the Department for Transport this month show that there were an estimated 5,620 drink drive accidents in 2014.

Helen Williams, a senior road accident solicitor in Thompsons Solicitors' Bristol office said: “It is clear from this survey that an alarming number of people are drink driving the morning after a night out.

“Regardless of whether people are consciously getting behind the wheel when they are over the limit, or ignorantly committing the offence, these drivers are putting themselves and other road users in serious danger.

“The number of people affected by drink driving accidents runs into the thousands on a yearly basis, and the consequences of such incidents are often life changing, or in the most tragic cases, fatal.

“Anti-drink drive campaigns have not typically focussed on the dangers of driving the morning after a night out, yet this latest research indicates that this is a wide-spread and highly concerning issue that demands better education for drivers and urgent attention from the government.”