Harwich: drink driver jailed for 12 weeks

A lorry driver who was four times the drink drive limit as he disembarked at Harwich Port, has been jailed.

Roads Policing Unit officers were alerted to a minor collision inside Harwich Port involving a lorry driver as he disembarked from a recently arrived ferry at Harwich International Port on Sunday 11 August.

Our Force Control Room were called after suspicions were aroused that the lorry driver was drink driving.

When our officers arrived, the driver blew four times the legal limit and was arrested at 7.45am.

Jacek Przybyl, 43, of no fixed abode, was charged with drink driving and remanded into custody to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court the following day, Monday 12 August when he pleaded guilty.

He was jailed for 12 weeks and disqualified from driving for three years.

Adam Pipe, Head of Roads Policing said:
Jacek Przybyl didn’t think of his or other road users’ safety when he got behind the wheel intending to drive hundreds of miles on a major route out of Essex.
Alcohol stays in your system longer than you think and it affects your decision making and slows your reaction time. I hope that this acts as a warning to anyone who thinks that drink, or drug driving, is an option – it’s not.
I’d like to thank colleagues at the port for bringing this to our attention so we could ensure that Jacek Przybyl didn’t present a danger on our roads or to any other driver.

Our Roads Policing Unit (RPU) provide a specialist response across our road network. Their expertise helps to keep our roads safe and traffic moving. They work to make sure those road users who put others at risk by speeding, driving dangerously or any other illegal behaviour, are held accountable for their actions. Our officers look for those using our roads to commit crime and disrupt criminal activity.

So that our officers can be even more effective on our roads, and better support the Strategic Road Network (SRN), our RPU based at Stanway, Colchester, have moved to our sites in Boreham and Thorpe-Le-Soken.

Our RPU will continue to operate 24/7 across the county. They will continue to work alongside officers and staff throughout Essex to help people and catch criminals. They will also continue to work to prevent and reduce road deaths and serious collisions on our roads.

In line with our Estates Strategy, the site at Stanway, which is not open to the public, will be sold. Funds will be reinvested into your police service.

This move does not affect the police teams who currently, and will continue to, work from Colchester Police Station. The sale of the Stanway site will not change local policing delivery or our visibility in our communities.

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