Drinking is normal back home, Polish drink-driver tells court

A Polish drink driver has defended himself for being nearly four times over the legal limit by saying that alcohol is “quite usual” in his home country.

Radoslaw Jaroszek, 45, was selling ice creams from a van on the seafront in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in August when customers reported him to police for appearing “intoxicated”.

The Polish national was found to have 131mgs of alcohol per 100ml of breath – almost four times the legal limit of 35mgs. The drink-driving limit in Poland is one of the strictest in Europe, at just 0.2mg.

He admitted drink-driving at Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ court on Wednesday, where he said it was normal to drink alcohol in Poland and that he did not know Britain’s drink-driving laws were so strict.

Jaroszek was working for Lamarti’s Ice Cream at the seaside town on Aug 12 when customers noticed he seemed “intoxicated” and “impaired”.

Police were called, and then tracked him on CCTV as he drove the ice cream van through the town.

‘Quite usual’ to drink alcohol in Poland

Officers who pulled Jaroszek over “smelt liquor” on his breath and found him “unsteady on his feet”, the court heard. A breathalyser test then found that he was significantly over the legal limit, and he was arrested.

The lowest test of his breath recorded following his arrest was 105mgs.

Jaroszek, speaking through an interpreter, told the court that it was “quite usual” to drink alcohol in Poland. He claimed that he had only had two pints of beer on the day of his arrest.

The court heard that he had previously told a probation officer that he did not usually drink and had only been doing so to cope with depression after his partner had a miscarriage.

Jaroszek was banned from driving for 25 months, given a 12-month community order, including 100 hours of unpaid work and 10 rehabilitation requirement days, and ordered to pay £199 costs.

He was fired by Lamarti’s Ice Cream after his arrest and is still jobless.