A Moray Council worker seen swigging alcohol in his car on the way home from work has admitted driving while nearly four times the legal limit.
Members of the public spotted Alexander Ross drinking alcohol behind the wheel of his parked orange Smart car on the B9018 Cullen-to-Keith road.
Elgin Sheriff Court was told how this “foolish decision” could cost the 54-year-old his job as a driver for the local authority.
Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh said the offence happened at around 7.25pm on Thursday June 2 this year.
“The accused was observed sitting in his vehicle in a layby on the B9018 road and appeared to be consuming alcohol,” she said.
“Police were made aware of the situation. They carried out a search for the vehicle.”
Officers later traced Ross on Seafield Street in Cullen around 20 minutes later.
A roadside breath test proved positive for alcohol and a further test at Elgin police station produced a reading of 81mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 22mcg.
Defence agent Matthew O’Neill said his client had planned to have a drink after work that night but made the “foolish decision” to pull over and consume some alcohol before arriving home instead.
“He must have drunk quite a lot of it to be nearly four times the limit,” Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood said.
Ross, Seatown, Cullen, admitted a drink-driving.
His solicitor added: “It was a foolish decision taken by someone who has never appeared before the court for any matters in his time.
“He was in full-time employment but will now lose that as a result of this foolish decision.
“He had finished work, he had intended to have a drink when he got home and had bought some.”
“For some reason, which he cannot explain, he stopped to consume some of it on his way home.
“Quite why, he does not know. He can only apologise.
“He works as a driver and is employed full-time by the local authority. He will be disqualified from driving for a period of time.”
The sheriff banned Ross for one year and fined him £667.
He was also deemed suitable for the drink-driver rehabilitation course which could see his roads ban reduced by 25% upon completion.
Moray Council declined to say if Ross has kept his job, saying it does not comment on individual employees.
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