Wobbly Kirklinton motorcyclist refused to take breath test

Florin Dascalu, 35, who eventually fell off his motorbike, doggedly refused to comply with a police officer’s request to take the breathalyser test, both at his home in Kirklinton and at the police station, Carlisle’s Rickergate court heard.

He pleaded guilty to the offence.

The court heard that the police became involved on Saturday, April 12, after witnesses saw the defendant riding unsteadily on the A6071 road at Smithfield, north of Carlisle.

The motorbike was seen to mount the grass verge.

Concerned witnesses who went to help the defendant after he fell got the impression the defendant was drunk, said prosecutor Diane Jackson.

Despite the repeated attempts of police officers to take a breath test, Dascalu, of Kirklinton, would not provide a sample and he had no reasonable excuse.

Chris Toms, defending, said Dascalu worked at a local chicken farm and had never been in trouble with the police before. “He accepts that he had been drinking but says he did so after he had been on his motorbike,” said the lawyer.

Mr Toms said he had struggled to make the defendant – a Romanian speaker who followed the hearing with the help of an interpreter – understand that his offence had been the refusal to provide a breath sample.

The lawyer said he suspected that this had something to do with why the defendant refused to provide the required sample.

“He simply didn’t understand the requirement and the seriousness of his position,” added the lawyer.

Deputy District Judge Andrew Teate told the defendant: “On April 12, you were all over the road on your motorcycle. You were seen mounting the kerb on to a grassed area and you fell off your bike.

“The individuals who witnessed that called the police, believing your were drunk.” The defendant’s claim to have been drinking after that incident did not explain the poor standard of his motorbike riding.

Even after he was asked, with the help of an interpreter, to provide a breath sample, Dascalu refused and thus it was a deliberate refusal.

Noting the defendant’s “high level of impairment,” the judge told Dascalu: “You could easily have killed someone, or yourself, given the manner of your driving.”

He banned the defendant for 30-months but offered the drink driver rehabilitation course, which if completed by a deadline will shorten the ban by 30 weeks.

The defendant was also fined £692 and told to pay costs of £85 and a surcharge of £277, making a debt to the court of £1,054.