A drink and drug driver got behind the wheel following a booze and cocaine binge with work colleagues after they were all made redundant due to the pandemic.
Ryan Carstairs was traced at an address by police officers responding to a report of a collision on Arbroath Way in Aberdeen.
The 31-year-old identified himself as the driver of one of the vehicles involved before returning positive test results for both alcohol and cocaine.
But when arrested and charged, Carstairs bragged to officers: “You never caught me in the f***ing car.”
Fiscal depute Lewis Devoy told Aberdeen Sheriff Court: “Around 10.30am on November 1 2020, police were contacted by a member of the public regarding a minor road traffic accident which took place at the locus.
‘Please take this as a lesson’
“Police attended immediately. At this time they had cause to attend a property on Arbroath Way.
“The officers identified the accused, who identified himself as the driver of one of the vehicles involved.”
Test for alcohol and cocaine then both returned positive results and Carstairs was arrested and taken to Kittybrewster station.
Carstairs, of Waterfront Gait, Edinburgh, pled guilty to driving with 84 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
He also admitted driving with 340 microgrammes of Benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, per litre of blood – exceeding the limit of 50 microgrammes.
‘You should never have got into that vehicle’
Defence agent Chris Maitland said: “He and his colleagues at work were all told they were being let off as a result of the pandemic and had all gotten together drinking and taking drugs.”
He added Carstairs had driven a “very, very short” distance and that he “didn’t accept” there was an accident at all.
Sheriff Lesley Johnston fined Carstairs a total of £1,095 and banned him from driving for 13 months.
She added: “Please take this as a lesson. I appreciate you weren’t driving very far, but you should never have got into that vehicle.”
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