A Darlington man has narrowly avoided a spell in custody after being convicted of drink driving for the third time.
Miroslaw Bialokozwicz, 45, admitted driving a motor vehicle when the amount of alcohol in his breath exceeded the prescribed limit when he appeared at York Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 13th April 2021.
This is an offence contrary to section 5(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and has a maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or a fine at level 5 (unlimited) on summary conviction.
Bialokozwicz also admitted a charge of absconding, contrary to section 6(1) of the Bail Act 1976.
The court heard that Bialokozwicz had argued with his partner after drinking heavily on the evening of Friday, 23rd October 2020.
He had left the house intending to sleep in the car, but ended up driving home instead. On arriving home, a neighbour contacted the police because they were concerned about the state he was in.
Clearly suspecting Bialokozwicz of being unfit through drink, the officers arrested him and took him to the police station, where he provided an evidential specimen containing 160 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the prescribed limit being 35 microgrammes.
Such a high reading would place the offence firmly in the custody band, even before the consideration of aggravating factors like the relevant previous convictions.
District Judge Adrian Lower determined that the offence was indeed so serious as to merit a custodial sentence, albeit a suspended one.
Bialokozwicz was sentenced to 24 weeks' custody suspended for 2 years, with the requirement that he undertakes 250 hours of unpaid work.
He was also disqualified from driving for 5 years and ordered to pay £128 victim surcharge and £85 towards prosecution costs.
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