Two Brighton men banned after drink driving

Two men from Brighton have been banned from the road after being caught drink driving during the annual Christmas crackdown.

Felipe Tomasz, 37, a landlord, of Bristol Gardens, Brighton, was arrested in Jevington Drive, Brighton, on Sunday 29 December.

He was charged with driving with 63 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of his breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

At Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 30 January he was banned from driving for 22 months.

Tomasz was also fined £575 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £57 victim surcharge.

George Reynolds, who was caught drink driving on Christmas Eve, confessed: “I know I shouldn’t have been driving”.

Reynolds was reported to police at about 10.05pm on Tuesday 24 December after he was seen driving a Citroen DS erratically on the A27 at Beddingham.

Sussex Police said: “After failing a roadside breath test, he was arrested and charged with driving with 41 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of his breath.”

On being arrested, he said to officers: “I did have a few pints tonight and I know that I shouldn’t have been driving, especially at this time of year. I was just going to see my family this way.”

The 24-year-old sales assistant, of Shipley Road, Brighton, appeared at Hastings Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 29 January.

He was banned from driving for 12 months. He was also fined £120 and ordered to a pay £85 costs and a £32 victim surcharge.

Sussex Police said that Reynolds and Tomasz were among 41 drivers who have so far been convicted as part of the annual Christmas crackdown on drink and drug drivers.

The campaign ran from Wednesday 18 December to Wednesday 1 January inclusive and led to a total of 110 arrests in Sussex.