A north-east teenager has been banned from the roads after crashing her car while nearly four times the drink-driving limit.
Katherine Meaden had been out drinking in Banchory on August 12 after finishing a shift.
But when her taxi failed to arrive at the end of the night, she decided to get in her car to drive home to Torphins.
Police later discovered her standing outside the vehicle in the early hours of the following day after she crashed into an embankment.
She was found to have 84 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 22mcg.
Yesterday the 19-year-old appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted getting behind the wheel while over the legal limit.
Representing the first offender, solicitor Gregor Kelly said that Meaden, who lives at Martinsells, Sundayswells in Torphins, was deeply upset by her actions.
He added: “She is due to start an engineering course at Strathclyde University.
“She has a social conscience as she has volunteered (for a charity) in Ghana before. She is clearly an intelligent person, but on this occasion, her intelligence left her.
“She had been planning to return home from university a lot, so a driving ban would be difficult for her living in a rural area.”
Sheriff Morag Macdonald fined her £750 and disqualified her from driving for 14 months.
