A 20-year-old who dodged a red light and refused to do a roadside breath test was later found to be drink-driving.
Tomasz Hajdukiewicz appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to a total of three offences.
He admitted to driving above the specified alcohol limit. While in custody, he provided a reading of 71mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath. The legal limit to drive is 35mcg.
On March 10, Hajdukiewicz was driving on the Hardwick roundabout in Lynn when police saw him ignoring a red light.
Officers activated their blue lights, but Hajdukiewicz didn’t pull over.
Due to the police officer not being qualified to pursue a police chase, officers stopped following Hajdukiewicz.
However, a police crew on the A149 at Heacham caught up with him and pulled him over.
Prosecutor Paul Brown said that police asked Hajdukiewicz to turn his engine off, but he challenged officers and asked “why?” before attempting to drive off.
Officers removed the keys from the ignition and refused to carry out a roadside breath test to see if he had been drink-driving. He was arrested and taken into custody.
In custody, Hajdukiewicz changed his mind and provided a reading of 71mcg.
In mitigation, George Sorrell said: “The defendant is a young person of previous good character.
“He did see the blue lights behind him, he didn’t know what it was about, he panicked. But he did the right thing in the end and came to court.”
Mr Sorrell handed a letter to the bench of magistrates, which was written by Hajdukiewicz, to explain more about his personal circumstances.
After reading the letter, magistrates disqualified Hajdukiewicz, of Wilberforce Road in Wisbech, from driving for 20 months and fined him £120.
He will also pay a victim surcharge of £48 and court costs of £105.