‘Wrong side of road’ driver was over limit (From York Press)

‘Wrong side of road’ driver, Krzystof Sobolewski, of Dringhouses, was over limit

10:35am Saturday 24th November 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell, jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk

A DRINK-driver drove through York on the wrong side of the road while three-and-a-half times the legal limit.

Krzystof Sobolewski, of Sandcroft Close, Dringhouses, was spotted driving erratically along Wigginton Road on October 2.

Witnesses saw Sobolewski swerve in Crichton Avenue in Clifton before mounting the kerb several times and driving along the wrong side of the road.

The 40-year-old Polish national then drove his Renault Laguna down the wrong side of the road along Burton Stone Lane, forcing motorists to swerve out of his way, Chris Smith, prosecuting, told York Crown Court yesterday.

He continued driving along the wrong side of the road on Clifton Bridge before performing an emergency stop in the middle of the road and abandoning his car on a kerb.

Shortly afterwards, police found him staggering near his car. An empty bottle of whisky was discovered in a footwell of the car.

A police breathalyser test revealed Sobolewski had 126 millilitres of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Sobolewski was later charged with dangerous driving and drink-driving. He pleaded guilty at a later court hearing.

Mitigating, Glen Parsons said his client had received upsetting news about his estranged wife and his two teenage daughters, who are living in Poland.

This caused him to “seek solace” in alcohol, he told the court at yesterday’s sentencing hearing.

He said Sobolewski showed “deep shock and remorse” for his actions.

Recorder Paul Miller told Sobolewski: “It is a mercy no-one was badly injured or killed whilst you were driving on the opposite side of the road.”

Sobolewski was disqualified from driving for a year, given a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work, with £270 costs.