Drunk driver who put motorists at risk is jailed

Tomasz Swiatek broke the speed limit, drove on the wrong side of the road, overtook on the inside lane and collided with another car during a horror drive between Broxburn and Camelon on July 17.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard the 25-year-old self-employed construction worker from Poland was breath tested by police on Glasgow Road and the result showed he was behind the wheel with 133 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit in Scotland is 22 in 100.

Swiatek started his journey on the A89 before joining traffic on the M9 north bound carriageway.

The court was told some of his erratic driving was caught on CCTV.

He was seen driving too close to vehicles in front and weaving about before colliding with another motorist.

That driver followed Swiatek to Camelon and managed to get him to stop and pull over.

When he noticed he was “staggering” the police were called.

Defence lawyer Kevin Douglas said: “His journey started in Livingston. He regrets his actions and realises it was a stupid thing to do.”

Mr Douglas said he could not explain why Swiatek left his house in Ryebank Avenue, Livingston, that afternoon or where he was intending to go.

Sheriff Craig Caldwell praised the “public spiritedness” of the driver who had his car damaged but followed Swiatek to Camelon and reported him to police.

The sheriff said he knew how busy the A89 can be.

He told Swiatek: “After taking a considerable amount of alcohol you drove a considerable distance on extremely busy roads at a busy time of day. This was extremely dangerous and put other road users at significant risk.

“This was appalling driving and in my view a person who drives in that way is not entitled to hold a driving licence and not entitled to retain their liberty.”

Swiatek, who stood in the dock with a translator, held his head in his hands as sentence was announced.