A Ballater pensioner has been banned from the roads for two years after being caught drink driving for a third time.
Jane Reynard was more than two-and-a-half times the legal alcohol limit when police spoke to her at Craigard House, a care home where she volunteered in the Deeside village.
Solicitor Liam McAllister told Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday that his client’s hairdresser had been the one to raise the alarm after seeing her driving her silver Honda Jazz along Abergeldie Road at about 11am.
He said officers had not found the 77-year-old behind the wheel but she had admitted driving when they spoke with her.
“She had been drinking with friends the night before,” he said.
“She had an appointment the next day and did not think she would be unfit to drive.
“She was alarmed the test was higher than she anticipated.
Mr McAllister said this latest offence was different from her previous drink driving more than 10 years ago, which was the result of using alcohol to cope with the death of her husband.
But he said she was “through all of that” and was “embarrassed and ashamed” to be back in court again for the same thing.
Reynard, of Queens Road, admitted driving with excess alcohol, 58 microgrammes in 100ml of breath, on Abergeldie Road on September 9.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan ordered her to pay a £1,000 fine and disqualified her from driving for two years.
