A drink-driver was caught more than three times over the limit after a petrol shop worker confiscated his keys to ensure he could be apprehended by police.
Sean McCafferty had been driving his work van on Sunday night when he stopped at a petrol station on Wellington Road, Aberdeen.
He struck up a conversation with the member of staff behind the till, who recognised that the 27-year-old had been drinking.
The clerk was able to persuade McCafferty to hand over his keys, preventing him from getting back behind the wheel, then called the police to voice his concerns.
Once the officers arrived, they took him to Kittybrewster Police Station where he was found to have 74 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath – more than three times the 22mcg limit.
He admitted drink-driving at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday.
Defence agent Stuart Murray said: “Earlier that day, he had been with work colleagues and had clearly consumed alcohol.
“He had three hours of sleep, woke up and thought he was okay to drive.
“Clearly that was not the case.”
The court heard that McCafferty has a job which requires him to drive to locations throughout the UK.
Mr Murray said: “He tells me that he will still have employment with someone else driving the van and, frankly, he is more concerned about it being his employer’s van (that he was caught in).”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan banned McCafferty, of Morningside Gardens, Belfast, from the roads for three years.
He was also ordered to pay a £1,000 fine.
