Drink driver caught more than four times over the limit

A 34-year-old man has been handed a 20-week prison sentence – suspended for 12 months – after pleading guilty to driving while more than four times over the drink drive limit.

Vitalijs Savics was spotted driving extremely slowly along Hardwick Road in Wellingborough by members of the town’s neighbourhood policing team on the evening of Saturday, October 14.

They followed Savics for a short distance before stopping him in nearby Medway Drive, where he was asked to complete a roadside breath test after he appeared to be slurring his words and smelt of alcohol.

He was arrested and once in custody, he provided a breath sample of 165 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 microgrammes – more than four time the legal limit.

Savics, of Adeline Street in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, was charged with driving a motor vehicle when alcohol above the legal limit and appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Monday, October 16, where he admitted the offence.

He was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months, disqualified from driving for 50 months and ordered to pay £154 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.

Arresting officer PC Jack Wigmore, of the Wellingborough Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “We are asked to prioritise road safety by our local communities as the consequences of a road collision can have a devastating life-long impact on all those involved or left behind.

“Getting behind the wheel – more than four times over the limit – is not just selfish, but dangerous and puts innocent road users lives at risk. It was more by luck than judgement that Vitalijs Savics’ actions did not cause a serious collision.”

Tragically in 2022, after being involved in a road collision in Northamptonshire, 36 people never returned home safely. Reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads remains a priority for the Force and our partners at the Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance.