A DRIVER has lost his job and his licence after CCTV operators spotted him using a phone while driving.

They were on the lookout for Krzstof Przybycin because a PCSO had reported him driving erratically near York city centre at night on September 7, York magistrates heard.

Martin Butterworth, prosecuting, said Przybycin was nearly three times the drink drive limit when he was seen through a CCTV camera stopped at the traffic lights outside Bootham Bar.

“The CCTV would appear to show the driver using a mobile phone albeit while stationary,” he said.

After the lights went green, Przybycin drove to Blake Street where a group standing in the road had to scatter out of his way.

Przybycin, 28, of Peterhill Drive, Clifton, pleaded guilty to drink driving and using a mobile phone while driving on September 7.

He was ordered to do 80 hours’ unpaid work, banned from driving for two years and ordered to pay a £90 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

For him, Matthew Collins said he had lost his job over the incident and had no previous convictions.

“It was a moment of madness that struck him,” he said. “He doesn’t drink particularly often and this went straight to his head. When his wife called to ask him to pick her up from work, he did it without thinking.

“When he answered his phone in his vehicle, he didn’t even think. It was something that just happened.”

Przybycin had been the main breadwinner for his wife and family, said the lawyer.

Mr Butterworth said Przybycin gave a breath test of 99 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

He told police the phone call outside Bootham Bar had been from his wife, and he had been drinking whisky.

Przybycin told a probation officer that he had met up with some friends before the car journey.