A drink driver from Dunfermline was found by police lying on his back on the ground with his legs in the air.

In his inebriated state, Sylvester Olborski failed to co-operate with a roadside breath test for drugs or alcohol.

He was arrested and taken to the police station where he eventually gave a breath sample which showed he was more than five times the drink drive limit.

Police computer checks revealed that he held a provisional licence but had no qualified driver with him and wasn’t displaying learner plates.

Those offences invalidated any insurance cover there may have been on the black Volkswagen Jetta Olborski was driving, Livingston Sheriff Court was told, so he was also charged with being an uninsured driver.

Olborksi, 43, appeared for sentence at Livingston Sheriff Court after earlier pleading guilty to the driving offences as well as failing to appear for an earlier hearing.

He admitted failing to co-operate with a preliminary test and driving with of 111 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath on Niddry Road, Winchburgh, West Lothian, on July 28, 2022.

Katie Adams prosecuting, said officers whose attention was drawn to the car saw the accused “lying on his back with his legs in the air” before trying to carry out the roadside breath test procedure.

Sheriff Susan Craig disqualified the Polish national from driving for three years but certified him as eligible for the drink driving rehabilitation scheme which, if he completes it at his own expense, will reduce the length of his driving ban by 25 per cent.

She told him: “Because of the very high reading I don’t think it’s just enough for me to disqualify you, so I’m going to impose a requirement that you carry out unpaid hours of work in the community.”

She said he had to complete 150 hours of work within six months under a community payback order or risk being brought back to court to face an alternative sentence.

When Olborski questioned whether he could afford the drink drive rehabilitation course while claiming Universal Credit, the sheriff told him she believed arrangements were available for people on benefits and advised him to contact the scheme’s Livingston HQ.

Olborski smiled as he left the West Lothian court on a push bike, ready to cycle back to his home in Inchkeith Drive, Dunfermline.