Banned driver caught drink driving for fourth time is jailed

Nov 10 2011 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A BANNED driver who was caught on the roads while more than twice the legal drink drive limit has been jailed.

Sebastian Kowalski was stopped by police officers on Barclay Way in Livingston at around 8.30pm on October 8 this year.

Officers could detect a strong smell of alcohol coming from him and he gave a positive breath sample.

The 30-year-old was taken to Livingston Police where he was found to have 78 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

A check revealed it was the fourth time Kowalski had been caught drink driving.

Last week at Livingston Sheriff Court Kowalski, whose address was given as Erskine Way, Livingston, pled guilty to drink-driving and driving while disqualified.

His solicitor, Glenn Fraser, told the court his client had spent a weekend in custody for the offence.

Mr Fraser added: “He appeared from custody in this court on October 10 and pleas of guilty were tendered at the first opportunity.

“The social work report is in good terms but does not sit very comfortably with the fact that he has three analogous convictions.

“He is a hard worker and has been in a relationship for eight years. His partner works only part-time so he is the main breadwinner for the family.

“His partner’s wage will not be enough to support the family and he believes his family may have to return to Poland if he is imprisoned. There is a concern on how that would effect the education of the older child.

“He realises he will be disqualified for a long period and that custody will be foremost in my lord’s mind.

“However, I wonder whether my lord would consider an alternative; something which will have a direct effect of punishing Mr Kowalski and also lessening the concerns my lord may have about public safety.

“I would commend to my lord the possibility of a restriction of liberty order.

“This offence occurred in the evening and if this is any way linked to social drinking then a ROLO would prevent him from drinking in that manner.”

However, jailing Kowalski for four months and banning him from the roads for five years Sheriff Donald Muirhead said: “This is your fourth conviction for driving while over the limit of alcohol and you were over twice the limit.

“You were given the benefit of probation and you were put on community service.

“You must have know how serious it was to drive with too much alcohol in your blood and you continued to do so. What is worse, and also extremely serious, is you breached an existing disqualification.

“My primary duty is to protect the public and to drive with this level of alcohol is a danger to the public and I cannot be sure that you will adhere to any disqualification.

“In all these circumstances I do not consider that anything other than a custodial sentence is appropriate.”