An ice cream van driver was caught nearly four times the drink drive limit after suspicious customers reported him to police.

Radoslaw Jaroszek, 45, was working near Great Yarmouth seafront on a busy day last month when officers received tip-offs from members of the public that he seemed drunk and impaired.

They tracked him on CCTV as he drove his Ford Transit van through the town and pulled him over on Victoria Road and breathalysed him.

Jaroszek appeared at Great Yarmouth Magistrates' Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to drink driving.

Radoslaw Jaroszek leaves the courtRadoslaw Jaroszek leaves the court (Image: Bruno Brown)

The court was told that Jaroszek was working in the town on August 12, at the peak of the holiday season, for Lamarti’s Ice Cream, one of the biggest such firms in Norfolk.

Customers reported him to the police because he seemed "intoxicated" and "impaired" while serving them.

Officers told the court that once he had been located and stopped in his van, at around 3.20pm,  they “smelt liquor” and said he was “unsteady on his feet”.

He was breathalysed and gave a reading of 131mg of alcohol - nearly four times the legal limit of 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.

A Lamarti's ice cream vanA Lamarti's ice cream van (Image: East Suffolk Council) He was then taken in for questioning, where the lowest sample of his breath recorded was 105mg.

Jaroszek, of Albert Square in Yarmouth, claimed he had only drank "two pints of beer".

The Pole, who used a Polish interpreter in court, told his probation officer that he never usually drinks and was only doing so on this occasion to cope with his depression because of his partner's recent miscarriage.

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He also said that in Poland it was “quite usual” to drink alcohol and he did not realise the laws in the UK surrounding alcohol consumption while driving were so strong.

Radoslaw Jaroszek leaves the courtRadoslaw Jaroszek leaves the court (Image: Bruno Brown)

Magistrates disqualified him from driving for 25 months.

In addition he received a 12 month community order including 100 hours of unpaid work and ten rehabilitation requirement days.

He will also pay a total of £199 in court fees.

Following the arrest, Lamarti’s Ice Cream fired  Jaroszek and he is still out of employment.