A drink driver has been banned from the road after being caught more than double the legal limit.
Scott Davidson, 34, was spotted by a shop worker in an Alford car park, lying back with the driver’s seat reclined and the engine running, before driving off.
Fiscal depute Rebecca Clark said at 6.45am an employee at Co-op spotted Davidson in the car park and heard him start the engine.
At 7.30am he saw Davidson still in the car and could hear “audible groans” and “formed the opinion the driver was drunk”.
At 8am the witness saw Davidson still with the engine running and the seat fully reclined.
She added: “As he approached, the accused revved the engine. He saw the accused drive his car out of the car park. He watched it being driven on Donside Road, turn left on to Montgarrie Road and thereafter return to the car park. It was at this point the witness called the police.”
When police arrived, Davidson “spontaneously admitted” driving before “realising he was not fit to drive and returning to the car park”.
Ms Clark said: “He’d been at a friend’s house and had been drinking but he didn’t think he was drunk enough to still be drunk.”
Davidson, of Millside Terrace, Peterculter, pled guilty to driving on March 10 with 56 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.
Defence agent Liam Mcallister said: “It’s deeply frustrating that Mr Davidson, at 34, has his first conviction of any sort. He’s hugely apologetic. This was no more than a misjudgment on his part.”
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He said his client had been drinking with a friend and, when he got to his car, realised he was still drunk and “decided to sleep it off for a while”.
He added: “When the witness went back he was clearly startled.”
After driving out of the car park Mr Mcallister said his client realised he was not okay to drive and turned back, driving for around “30 seconds to a minute”.
Sheriff Robert McDonald said: “You should not even have been in the car, never mind sleeping in it and attempting to drive it.”
He banned him from driving for a year and fined him £400.
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