A drink driver rammed a biker on a motorway slip road before fleeing the scene and crashing again, this time into a road sign.
Marek Wasiak, 54, pleaded guilty to driving whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit and failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 13 September.
Crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger said the defendant, of Barton Hill Road, Bristol, was driving a blue Nissan Micra when he struck a motorcyclist on a slip road at Junction 15 of the M4 on 11 September, two days prior to his court appearence.
The biker, who was stationary at a red traffic light at the time, was knocked over as a result of the force and ended up underneath his Yamaha MT-07. The driver failed to stop.
He didn’t suffer any injuries and there was only slight damage to the motorcycle. The victim decided to ride home and as he travelled towards Highworth, he came across the same vehicle involved in another collision – this time with a road sign on the A361.
Police officers were already in attendance at the early morning crash, so the motorcyclist informed them of the earlier incident.
A witness, who called police to the scene of the road sign collision, told officers that Wasiak had been driving at around 20mph in the 50mph limit and was ‘all over the road’.
He was arrested and taken to Gablecross custody suite where he provided an evidential sample measuring 115 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
In an interview, the defendant told officers he had been drinking Polish vodka from 7am on Friday until 2am on Saturday. He said that after a few hours’ sleep and a little bit of food, he drank a large can of larger before driving to his sister’s house.
Wasiak claimed he missed a collision with the biker because he was smoking cigarettes and the smoke was in his eyes, the court heard.
Mark Glendenning, defending, said his client has an issue with alcohol, adding that he is an alcoholic who is able to hold down a full-time job as a butcher.
“This is a very serious offence. That man who fell off this bike could have been seriously injured and you didn’t care”, district judge Joanna Dickens said.
The continued: “You carried on and you had yet another accident. You are lucky you are not dead, you are lucky you did not kill anyone. You are a very lucky man.
“This is one of the most serious cases of drink driving and failing to stop I have seen for a while.”
She imposed a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months and banned Wasiak from driving for two years.
Ms Dickens also told him to complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 150 hours of unpaid work.
