A driver who crashed a company car on the M1 told police he failed a breath test because he drank tequila after the accident.
Gregory Tomaszczyk was travelling to see his girlfriend on Sunday September 29 when the crash happened on the northbound carriageway of the M1 at around 4pm.
The 30-year-old saw a car in front of him braking, so he swerved to the right and lost control, damaging the front of his car.
The legal limit for drink-driving is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath and when he was breathalysed near to the Leicester Forest East services Tomaszczyk gave a reading of 85 microgrammes, LeicestershireLive reports.
He later retracted the tequila story and he pleaded guilty to drink-driving at Leicester Magistrates’ Court.
'He said he hadn’t consumed any alcohol prior to the crash'
Prosecutor Sally Bedford told the court: "Police were called to attend the M1 where they found an Audi with significant front end damage.
"They spoke to the defendant who accepted he had been the driver.
"He said at that point he hadn’t consumed any alcohol prior to the crash but a breath test indicated he was over the limit.
"He claimed he had drunk some tequila after the collision.
"But he now accepts he hadn’t and that he had just said that on the spur of the moment."
Michelle Harding, representing Tomaszczyk, of Great Gull Crescent, Northampton, told the court: "In terms of what he said, he tells me he panicked. He hadn’t been in that situation before.
"He had been to Northampton to see friends and play squash and been to a pub to have two or three pints.
"He was in the middle lane and saw the brake lights in front of him and he turned right. He doesn’t recall any other cars were involved."
Brexit was leading to extra pressure at work
She said Tomaszczyk worked for a broker company in Milton Keynes that dealt with shipping around Europe and that with the expectation that Brexit would happen on October 31 Tomaszczyk had been working very hard and not sleeping well.
She said: "He was working 14-hour days to make sure the company had plans in place to be in a strong position after Brexit."
She said a driving ban would had a big affect on Tomaszczyk, who was buying a house in Coalville with his partner, who was due to give birth to his child in April next year.
The magistrates fined Tomaszczyk £450 and ordered him to pay £85 court costs and a £45 victim surcharge.
He was disqualified from driving for 18 months.
