A council worker who thought he was “fine” to get behind the wheel after a night of drinking was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit.
Jamie Howden had not realised he was unfit to drive when he was caught by police on the A9 at The Mound, near Dornoch.
Appearing before Tain Sheriff Court, Howden, 24, pled guilty to a single drink-driving charge relating to the incident on November 27 last year.
The court heard he had 45 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath – the legal limit is 22 micrograms.
‘He went to work thinking he was fine’
His solicitor Matthew Berlow said: “This is a case that involved being over the limit the day after the night before.
“He went to work thinking that he was fine and not realising that he was quite so much over the limit.”
Mr Berlow explained that Howden worked as a driver for the Highland Council but that he would be redeployed within the organisation as a result of his inevitable disqualification.
Sheriff Gary Aitken fined Howden, of Owen Place, Wick, £715 and banned him from the road for 12 months.
He gave Howden the option to complete a drink-drive rehabilitation course at his own cost, which would reduce the length of his ban by three months.
