A DECISION to drive to a pizza takeaway after drinking vodka at home had dire consequences for a Chester businessman.

Karol Ratajczak, 35, was spotted driving erratically by police officers in the city centre on September 30 and was arrested for drink-driving.

He was given a 12-month community order and banned from driving for more than two years, at a time when he had just set up his own insurance company.

Chester Magistrates Court heard Ratajczak had been enjoying a rare night in without his partner and three-year-old child when he began to feel peckish.

Believing he was fine to drive, he then made the “stupid decision” to take his car to pick up a pizza in the city centre.

Police officers spotted his Mazda drifting across the carriageway on St Oswald’s Way and stopped him on Northgate Avenue.

A roadside breath test revealed Ratajczak had 105 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – three times the
drink-drive limit.

Steve Coupe, defending, said Ratajczak had shown remorse and recognised the risk he had posed to other road users.

It was a rare, one-off evening at home by himself and he had decided to relax with some vodka.

Ratajczak, of Wroxham Close, Newton, Chester, was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for 25 months. He must pay court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £85.