A Carlisle man has lost his job working on the city’s major southern road bypass project after he was caught drink-driving on his way home from a Christmas party.
Rafal Komornicki, 35, came to the attention of police who were on mobile patrol in the area of Warwick Road at around 5.15am on December 21 last year.
Komornicki was behind the wheel of a Volvo V40. “One officer’s attention was drawn to the red Volvo being driven erratically,” prosecutor George Shelley told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court this morning.
“It was swerving in the road, crossing on to the opposite side of the carriageway.”
Komornicki failed a roadside test and was arrested. An evidential reading showed 97 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath — almost three times the legal limit of 35mcg.
In court, Komornicki admitted drink-driving. “I’m very sorry for what’s happened,” he told magistrates. “I shouldn’t have done it. It won’t happen again.”
The court heard Komornicki was a groundworker by profession who had no previous convictions.
He was previously employed on the city’s southern bypass road project but had since lost that job because of the drink-driving crime and the imminent mandatory ban.
A probation officer told the court Komornicki, of Oakleigh Way, Carlisle, was full of remorse. He was shocked by the breath reading as he only had a couple of pints at a works Christmas party, knowing he would be driving home.
Magistrates imposed a 12-month community through which Komornicki must complete 100 hours’ unpaid work.
He was handed a 23-month driving ban although this will be reduced by 23 weeks on successful completion of a rehabilitation course which the defendant was offered by the bench.
