A DRINK-driver was caught out by an off-duty police officer who spotted him driving his van erratically in Darlington.

The town’s Magistrates’ Court heard today (Tuesday October 16) that the officer followed Marcin Liszka after seeing him drive away from Glebe Road after arguing with a woman on a doorstep around midnight on October 3.

Blair Martin, prosecuting, said that the off-duty officer suspected the man had been drinking by the “erratic” way the van was being driven so he called the police who stopped Liszka on the A66.

A breath test revealed that Liszka, 39, of Ardara Avenue, in Dublin, had 78mg of alcohol in his breath – more than double the legal limit of 35mg – and had a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey in his van.

He pleaded guilty through a Polish interpreter to drink driving in court.

Mitigating, Michael Clarke said that Liszka lived in Dublin with his wife and child, but was in the Middlesbrough area looking for work when he argued with his business partner and had too much to drink.

Magistrates banned him from driving for 20 months, with the option of reducing the ban by five months on completion of a driving rehabilitation course.

They also ordered him to pay a £135 fine, £85 court costs and a £15 victim surcharge.