A drink-driver who decided to move his truck in order to avoid a parking ticket after consuming one-and-a-half litres of wine – and then crashed into a van – has been jailed for seven months.
Pawel Maziarz (30) was also banned from driving for three years and nine months when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The collision happened at the petrol station on Rue de St Aubin on the evening of 12 July.
St Lawrence Centenier Norman Laverack, prosecuting, said Maziarz had decided to move his silver Toyota truck in order to avoid a parking ticket, and in doing so had crashed into the Ford transit van.
You put others at risk to satisfy your own convenience, when your alcohol level was catastrophically high
Assistant Magistrate Adam Clarke
“A section of the front bumper and the radiator grille of the transit van were smashed and there was some minor body damage, but the driver was uninjured,” he said.
Maziarz admitted to the police that he had been drinking.
Mr Laverack said: “When asked how much, he replied ‘a lot’.”
Maziarz was said to have consumed one and a half litres of wine, and a breath test showed he had 128 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than three-and-a-half times the legal maximum of 35 micrograms.
Advocate Frances Littler, defending, pointed out that Maziarz had admitted the offence immediately.
She added that he had lived in Jersey for almost ten years, had stable employment in the building trade throughout that time and had a long-term partner.
However, Assistant Magistrate Adam Clarke told him: “This was a both foolish and selfish decision.
“Drinking and driving is inherently selfish. You put others at risk to satisfy your own convenience, when your alcohol level was catastrophically high.”
As well as imposing the jail sentence and driving ban, he ordered Maziarz to retake and pass the driving test before driving again after the ban has elapsed.
