A farmer crashed his 4×4 into another car and then drove off with a wheel missing – before being found by police hiding in a bush.
Mark Wattie had returned home after a night out when he was invited out again.
Although he had taken a taxi back to Mains of Tonley, at Tough, near Alford, he grabbed the keys of a Land Rover Discovery and decided to drive.
But the 24-year-old – whose family are well-known for breeding Aberdeen Angus – crashed into an oncoming car.
Fiscal depute Alan Townsend told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that the accident happened at about 5.30am on December 15 in Fraser Road, Alford.
The woman in the other car was heading to work.
Mr Townsend said: “She became aware of his vehicle on Fraser Road when it veered over the opposing carriageway and then collided with her car.”
He said that Wattie then fled the scene while the woman got our her car to inspect the damage.
She noticed a “detached wheel” in the road and saw smoke coming from Wattie’s Land Rover as it drove off.
Mr Townsend said police were called, and found Wattie and another man “in a bush on Kingsford Road”.
When Wattie gave a breath test at Kittybrewster Police Station, 26 miles away, he gave a reading of 94 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.
Wattie admitted the drink-driving charge, and failing to stop after an accident when he appeared in court yesterday.
Defence solicitor Gregor Kelly told the court his client and friend had abandoned the damaged 4×4 in a nearby lay-by following the crash and were walking home to “compose themselves” when police found them.
He said Wattie realised his “stupidity” would have serious consequences – particularly for his family.
Mains of Tonley, which has been run by generations of Wattie’s family, established their herd of pedigree Aberdeen Angus in 1993.
Mr Kelly said a driving ban would mean his client would be unable to drive tractors on the roads to cattle fields.
He told the court: “This will cause a great deal of upset to the business.
“His father and brothers will bear the brunt of his frank stupidity.”
Sheriff William Summers fined Wattie, of The Farmhouse, Mains of Tonley, £2,600 and disqualified him for 20 months.
