A drink-driving pensioner had to be rescued from her car after crashing into a ditch while more than double the alcohol limit.
Frances McInally, or Salter, 73, had turned to drink to help her sleep the night before the incident on May 2.
She had thought the alcohol would have worn off the following morning, but when she got behind the wheel of her husband’s green Range Rover she crashed off the road.
Fortunately, the pensioner was not injured but found herself stuck in the car and when police arrived to rescue her, officers smelled alcohol on her.
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court police were asked to attend the unclassified road near Marchnear Farm between the A980 and A93, Glassell, Banchory.
When officers arrived they found the Range Rover off the road, angled in a ditch preventing the driver’s door from opening.
‘She accepts she did have some alcohol issues’
Ms Thompson said: “The accused was found alone in the driver’s seat and could not get out but was uninjured.
“She was extracted from the vehicle.”
However, officers detected a smell of alcohol from the pensioner and a check also revealed her licence had expired in 2019.
“The accused stated her husband was due home from hospital and did not have the means to access her home address. She was taken home to ensure the welfare of her husband and then taken to Kittybrewster station.”
Salter pled guilty to driving with 58 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
‘She’d been extremely worried about her husband’s operation’
She also admitted driving without a licence.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly told the court: “It’s highly unfortunate at the age of 73 Mrs Salter finds herself before the court.”
He explained she had voluntarily surrendered her licence in 2019 “for medical reasons”, adding: “She accepts she did have some alcohol issues at the time and that was the catalyst for giving up her licence.”
Mr Kelly said Salter’s husband had been in hospital for a hip replacement and had been due to return home on the day in question.
He went on: “She’d been extremely worried about her husband’s operation and had been unable to sleep.
“She got up in the early hours and concedes she did take some drink to help her sleep.
“She thought when she woke in the morning that drink would have metabolised and took the rash decision to take her husband’s car to the skip having tidied the house for her husband’s release.”
The solicitor added Salter, who had no previous convictions, did not intend to reapply for her licence.
Sheriff James Mulgrew banned Salter, of Glassel, Banchory, from driving for 12 months and fined her £320.
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