Man spotted driving erratically blamed being over alcohol limit on lack of food

A driver told magistrates he thought he’d been found over the alcohol limit because he had not eaten for hours.

Szymon Platek, 46, of Eastern Road, Holbeach St Matthews admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared before magistrates in Boston.

Marie Stace, prosecuting, said Platek was stopped by officers when driving his Audi car in Tattershall Road in Boston at 12.50am on March 26 when he was stopped by police because of his erratic driving and excessive speed.

She said he was arrested after providing a positive breath test and gave a reading later of 42
microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, the legal limit being 35.

Mitigating, Helen Coney said Platek, who has no previous convictions, didn’t believe he was over the limit and attributed it to not having eaten since early that morning.

She said he would now have to cycle to work every day.

Platek was banned from driving for a year but was offered a drink drivers’ rehabilitation course which will reduce the period of the ban by three months.

He was also fined £400 and ordered to pay a total of £125 in court costs and charges.

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