Drink driver ‘who would have had trouble walking’ jailed after being caught four times over the limit

District judge Richard Hawgood said Wisbech resident Dainius Lizunas, who didn’t have a driving licence, had such a high reading that even walking would have been difficult.

Lizunas blew 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath after police spotted him parking at an odd angle near his home in Acacia Avenue. The legal limit is 35. It happened at 7.30pm on June 1, Lynn Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday (Monday).

Lizunas, (36), was first banned from driving for excess alcohol in August 2013. Five months later he was jailed for eight weeks and disqualified for four years. And in July 2016 he got a suspended sentence and 31-month ban for driving while banned.

That disqualification had only expired four months before the commission of the latest offence. Lizunas pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and having no insurance.

Mitigating, Tiffany Meredith said the defendant had been at a barbecue with his children and drove the company car “a very short distance” to his brother’s house to “take it out of the equation.”

“He didn’t feel impaired at the time,” she added.

The district judge said Lizunas had a “diabolical” driving record, adding: “It’s a very, very high reading. He would have had difficulty walking, let alone driving.”

Jailing him for 90 days and disqualifying him from driving for 61 months and 15 days, Mr Hawgood said: “It’s got to be clear to you that you cannot drive and drink without being appropriately punished. This offence is so serious that I must, for the offence of driving with excess alcohol, send you to prison without the benefit of a pre-sentence report.”

Mr Hawgood said the original sentence was six months but he had given Lizunas a third discount for his early guilty plea and a further month for his personal circumstances (his wife is in full-time mployment out of the area and relied on him for childcare).

Lizunas will spend half the term in custody and the other 45 days on licence. For having no driving licence and no insurance there were no separate penalties but his licence will be endorsed.

He was also ordered to pay £200 in costs.