Drunken driver crashes into ditch in Great Glen after getting bad news

A driver upset after his mum had a stroke stopped for some alcohol and then crashed his Vauxhall Corsa into a ditch. Lukasz Marcinkiewicz was more than three times the drink-driving limit when he came off the road in Great Glen. He fled the scene of the collision, at the T-junction of Newton Road and Station Road near the village, and Leicestershire Police[1] officers called to the scene found him walking along the A6 dual carriageway.

He failed a roadside breathalyser test and was arrested. At a police station, he gave an alcohol reading of 126 microgrammes per 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

At Leicester Magistrates' Court[3] on Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the drink-driving offence, which happened at about 11pm on Monday, November 27. The court heard that Marcinkiewicz, 36, of Nash Close, Corby, Northants, had five offences on his record, including a previous drink-driving conviction from 2011. Berinder Chawla, representing Marcinkiewicz, told the magistrates his client was "emotionally compromised" by the news about his mother, who lives in France.

He said: "A day before the incident he received news his mother had suffered a stroke. He went out for a drive to clear his head, pulled over and purchased some beers, which he consumed sat in the stationary vehicle. "He tells me he is ashamed, remorseful and contrite." He said Marcinkiewicz lived with his ex-partner and their two children, aged five and 14, and that he worked as a director of an installation company and was the sole earner in the family.

Chairman of the bench Amrik Singh told Marcinkiewicz: "You should have known better, shouldn't you, having had a conviction before? It's a serious case in terms of the reading so we're going to treat this as a very seroius offence and punish you accordingly." Marcinkiewicz was banned from driving for 30 months and given a 12-month community order that will include working with probation and doing 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay GBP85 court costs and a GBP114 victim surcharge.

References

1. ^ Leicestershire Police (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
2. ^ Abuser from Hathern jailed for historic rape of girl aged 11 (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)
3. ^ Leicester Magistrates' Court (www.leicestermercury.co.uk)