A drink-driver, who was described as a “pillar of the community”, wrote off his wife’s Range Rover after trying to drive home from the pub.
Offshore worker Gordon Macleod – who also has four previous convictions for driving while disqualified and “fully recognises he could have killed someone” – crashed multiple times during the drive between Inverurie and his home in Insch.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told the 51-year-old was reported to the police by multiple concerned motorists, who saw him swerving along the road at speed and hitting fences and road barriers.
Fiscal depute Lydia Ross said it only came to an end when Macleod crashed outside someone’s home at 11.30pm.
Fuelled up on whisky and beer
The court heard Macleod, a father of three, met his wife for lunch at a pub in Inverurie on November 26 last year then stayed on to consume beer and whisky until nearly closing time.
“At around 8.30pm, he was offered a taxi but that was declined,” Miss Ross said.
“At 11.04pm, a large white Range Rover 4×4 was observed colliding with the central reservation on North Street in Inverurie.
“It was further observed swerving along the road for quite a distance northbound at speed.
“At 11.12pm, a witness called the police to report the vehicle being driven at speed and having crashed into a fence narrowly missing a property before driving off.”
As officers were dispatched, Macleod continued from Inverurie to the B9002 at Oyne Fork, near Insch, spreading debris all over the carriageway.
Other road users saw the white Range Rover on the same road making “whistling and scraping noises” as it swerved between the grass verge and road and looking “lopsided” on the driver’s side.
Caught out after final crash
The fiscal added: “At 11.32pm, another witness was at home and heard a crash and looked out their window to see a vehicle had collided with a road barrier outside. He contacted police and went outside to locate and aid the driver.”
Police arrived a few minutes later and found Macleod standing near his car smelling of alcohol, slurring his words and looking unsteady on his feet as he identified himself as the driver.
Macleod admitted driving without insurance, driving dangerously and while unfit through drink or drugs.
His defence agent Gregor Kelly said he’d consumed a number of pints of lager and some whisky on top of Co-codamol painkillers and antidepressants creating a “cocktail” of drink and medication.
He described his client, a metrology engineer, as a “pillar of the community” who had “succumbed to temptation to his eternal shame”.
He said Macleod had gone to sit in his wife’s 4×4 while he waited for a taxi or for her to finish her shift at the pub.
Instead, he’d taken the decision to drive himself home, resulting in the vehicle being written off.
‘He knows he could have killed someone’
Mr Kelly said Macleod has “two analogous convictions” from when he was a young man.
“He is not a serial drink-driver,” he added. “He is fastidious about that with others.
“He cannot understand why he would take the car on this occasion.
“He speculates that when lunch was over they moved tables and he pocketed the keys then.
“He knows he could have killed someone.”
He acknowledged this was Macleod’s sixth serious road traffic offence, including four driving whilst disqualified convictions.
Sheriff Mungo Bovey read character references and was told Macleod was otherwise a “pillar of the community” who is “extremely public-spirited”.
Persuaded to spare him jail, he handed Macleod, of Mill of Bodom, Insch, a £5,075 fine and a 32-month roads ban.
He must also sit an extended test to regain his licence.
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