A man who got drunk after a row with his wife was seen by police driving erratically on the A367 Wellsway in Bath.
Photo © Avon & Somerset Police
Ioan-Ciprian Frimu was more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over in the early hours of 8th March.
At the hearing at Bath Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday, 8th April, prosecutor Maree Doyle said two police officers had come across Frimu driving without lights.
Travelling at about 50mph, he was hitting kerbs and crossing into the lane on the other side. When they stopped him, they said his speech was slurred, and he had troubling balancing.
Frimu was arrested and taken to Keynsham Police Centre, where he was found to have 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Ms Doyle said that although there were a limited number of road users at that time of the morning, an aggravating feature was the poor standard of his driving.
Frimu, 37, of Charlton Road in Holcombe, Somerset, admitted drink-driving as well as driving without insurance and with only a provisional licence.
Duty solicitor Bradley Axam said the self-employed carpenter was of previous good character and “genuinely remorseful”. He’d had an argument with his wife, left the house and had too much to drink in what Mr Axam said was a “one-off incident”.
He said Frimu has no issues with alcohol or drugs.
Telling Frimu that the outcome could have been “devastating”, the magistrates disqualified him from driving for 24 months.
They did not allow him the option of doing a drink-drive course, which would have shaved a quarter off the length of the ban.
There was no separate penalty for the other two offences, but Frimu’s driving record was endorsed.
He must complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the community over 12 months. He was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 along with a £114 court surcharge.
