A man who crashed his car into a barrier at the side of the road after a drunken row with his girlfriend has been banned from driving for four years.
Jamie Dent appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court from custody yesterday and admitted repeatedly refusing to provide a breath test for officers.
The court heard that another motorist had spotted his black Audi A3 Quattro on a grass embankment at around 2.45am on Sunday morning.
Fiscal depute Pauline Oakley said Dent’s car appeared to have been “pressed up against” a crash barrier on the A96 between Inverurie and Blackburn at the bypass for Kintore.
As the car had left the carriageway the witness approached the 26-year-old, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, and noticed he was smelling strongly of alcohol. They then took the keys out of the ignition and placed them on the roof of the car.
Officers arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and asked Dent to provide them with a breath test while on the roadside.
Dent, a mechanical fitter, of Corinda, Gauchill, Kintore, refused and he was taken to Inverurie police station.
There he was asked to provide a further two specimens of breath where he continued to refuse.
Representing Dent solicitor Shane Campbell said his client had been out in Inverurie town centre with his girlfriend on Saturday evening and the pair had been drinking.
He said when they returned home an argument broke out between the pair and Dent decided to get away from the house to try to diffuse the situation.
Mr Campbell said that was the reason he decided to take the car.
The court heard Dent, who was banned from driving in 2007 after being caught more than twice the legal limit, could not explain why he decided to take the car while “clearly over the limit”.
Mr Campbell said: “He was in no fit state to drive the vehicle. He really can’t explain his actions.”
He said that Dent’s refusal to cooperate with the police “had something to do with the level on intoxication” he was under.
Sheriff Kenneth Stewart said officers had no idea how over the drink-drive limit Dent was given he had not cooperated with officers.
He said: “It sounds to me like you were very drunk indeed.”
The sheriff said for this reason he was not imposing the minimum ban and disqualified him from holding a licence for four years.
Dent was also fined £1,000.