A man has been banned from the roads for driving down the wrong side of a dual carriageway after a “few whiskies”.
Yuriy Gozhenko, 61, was more than three times the drink-drive limit when he got behind the wheel in Aberdeen on the evening of June 4 last year.
He was spotted by other drivers on the wrong side of both the A96 Great Northern Road and nearby Barron Street before concerned staff at a local supermarket reported him to police.
When breathalysed Gozhenko, a registered carer, gave a reading of 71 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mg.
He apologised to the police at the scene and told them: “I was the driver. I accept it”.
Witness sounded horn and flashed her headlamps
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told the court: “The accused passed the junction of Printfield Walk, Aberdeen, on Great Northern Road and moved into the opposing carriageway.
“The accused’s vehicle then travelled the wrong way down Great Northern Road on the incorrect side of the dual carriageway, heading westbound.
“There was a witness in her car who sounded her horn and flashed her headlamps to alert the accused, but he did not notice this and continued down the wrong side of the road.
“He then pulled off into Tesco on Great Northern Road where he entered and attempted to buy alcohol, but was refused.”
Police were contacted and they met Gozhenko walking back towards his home.
Accused ‘let himself down badly’
Defence agent Gregor Kelly told the court that his client was “not normally a drinker” but “he’d had a few whiskies” that night.
He added: “He let himself down badly. He was in crisis and hadn’t coped well during lockdown and also had grave concerns about his brother who was having surgery in Ukraine.
“He is a registered carer with the council all over Aberdeenshire and it remains to be seen whether he will remain in the job he loves. He realises it’s through his own stupidity that he’s put that job on the line.”
Sheriff Philip Mann told the 61-year old: “Drink driving is the more serious offence in this complaint, although driving on the wrong side of the road is also very serious.
“You were more than three times the alcohol level and had it not been for your early guilty plea you would have been disqualified for 18 months.”
He sentenced Gozhenko, of Sandilands Drive, Aberdeen, to a 14-month driving ban and fined him £730.
