A MAN has been disqualified from driving for 18 months after refusing to provide a specimen sample.

Pawel Sliwinski, of Bray Avenue, Ledbury, pleaded guilty to the offence when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford earlier this month.

Prosecutor Melanie Winterflood said that, on March 4, police officers received a number of reports from members of the public who believed a driver of a black Vauxhall Corsa was under the influence of alcohol or some substance.

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"Officers were in an unmarked car and followed Mr Sliwinski on the A438 for a short while," said Miss Winterflood.

"They indicated that the car should stop and it did. Mr Sliwinski was the only person in the car and he was the driver.

"It appeared that he had been drinking. He was required to produce a roadside specimen of breath but refused and was subsequently arrested."

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Miss Winterflood added that in the front of a car was a supermarket shopping bag containing three cans of a lager, a half empty can of larger and a bottle of vodka. 

"Mr Sliwinski was taken to the police station and the breath test procedure was carried out," she said.

"He failed to carry out a sample of breath, simply refusing to do so. When issued with a statutory warning and was asked again, he again replied, 'no'.

"When he was asked if there were any medical or other reasons why he shouldn't supply a sample of breath, he told the officers he was scared.

"He said he hadn't been drinking, was sober and the officers' comments about his appearance were wrong. Mr Sliwinski suggested that the officers were lying about him being unsteady on his feet and was intoxicated by liqueur."

In defence, Sliwinski said he would like to apologise and express his remorse for what he did.

"I had just come back from shopping," he said.

"I am a responsible person. I don't really drink."

Sliwinski was also fined £200 and asked to pay court costs of £135 as well as an £80 government surcharge.