An Inverness man has been banned from driving for 18 months after admitting crashing his car into a garden, just three months after being caught drink-driving and speeding on the A96.
Stewart Mezzetti, 30, of 79 Morvich Way, was disqualified, fined £100 and given 200 hours of community service after pleading guilty to driving at 106mph on the A96 at Gollanfield while over the drink-drive limit on October 19 last year.
He also admitted a second charge of driving dangerously on Old Edinburgh Road on January 10, 2014.
Fiscal depute Michelle Molley told Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday that witnesses had seen and heard Mezzetti driving his Volkswagen Golf at excessive speed.
She said: “It appears that he has lost control of the car, mounted the pavement and hit an electrical junction box.
“Police officers who had observed Mezzetti earlier had turned round to follow and found the car lying on its side in a garden on Old Edinburgh Road.”
Ms Molley told the court that Mezzetti had earlier appeared in the dock after being caught by a police patrol driving at speeds of up 106mph in a 60mph zone on the A96.
Police officers suspected he was driving under the influence because they could smell alcohol on his breath and a test showed he was just over the legal limit.
Mezzetti’s defence agent, Duncan Henderson, said that his client accepted his driving fell well below the accepted standard.
He added that his client had lost his job as a van driver after being suspended from driving.
