Police alerted about a man slumped in the front of a parked car found him to be almost four times the alcohol limit.
Valerij Jastrebov was in the driver’s seat with the keys in the ignition and music playing. The Citroen was in a layby on Park Road in Wisbech on November 1 2020.
“He was the only person in the vehicle and he wasn’t moving so the police officers had to wake him up,” prosecutor Paul Brown told Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Monday (January 4).
“There was a half-empty bottle of wine in the centre of the vehicle.
“He admitted that he’d been drinking and provided a positive breath test at the roadside with a reading of 126 (micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath; the legal limit being 35).
“Of course, that was not an evidential reading and at 8.25am he blew 136.”
In police interview, 51-year-old Jastrebov said he had started drinking at 5am after being contacted by his son.
He said his car had been in the layby three miles away from his factory workplace for four days.
He told police he couldn’t afford the £5,500 insurance premium following two accidents and “took a risk”.
Jastrebov, of Verdun Road, Wisbech, had pleaded guilty to being in charge of a vehicle while above the alcohol limit and having no insurance at a previous hearing.
He told Monday’s bench: “I accept all the charges and I regret my actions.”
Jastrebov was banned from driving for ten months and given a 12-month community order with up to 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He was also fined £300 and ordered to pay £95 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
There was no separate penalty for the insurance matter but his licence will be endorsed.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here