A drinking-driving teenager who abandoned his crashed car came to the attention of police when he made the bizarre decision to report his motorbike had been stolen.
Ben Parker, 18, left the scene of an accident and returned home after writing-off his white Seat Ibiza on the B9170 Inverurie to Oldmeldrum road in Aberdeenshire.
He then contacted police and told them that his motorbike had been stolen – but officers soon found it in Parker’s garage.
Police, who had noted he seemed to be under the influence, soon traced the abandoned vehicle to Parker, then 17.
When officers returned and breathalysed him, they found Parker was over the drink-drive limit, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Driver reported bike stolen but it wasn’t
Fiscal Depute Eabha Sweeney told the court that in the early hours of May 22 last year, Parker’s Seat Ibiza was approaching a roundabout on the B9170 road at its junction with Station Road in Oldmeldrum.
But he failed to negotiate the turn and lost control of the vehicle.
The car came to rest on a grass verge and as a result of a collision, the vehicle was a write-off.
On the same day, Parker contacted police to report that his motorcycle had been stolen in Port Elphinstone, Inverurie.
“Officers attended and found the accused’s motorcycle in his garage”, Ms Sweeney said.
“He was spoken to by the officers but was clearly under the influence and was giving them a confusing series of events.
“His brother then told the police that he had found him walking down the road and had picked him up.
“Police Scotland were then contacted by members of the public who informed them that a car had been abandoned with its airbag deployed and the keys still in the ignition.”
The police then returned to Parker’s address where he admitted that he was the driver of the car.
He was then given a roadside test that provided a positive result for alcohol and was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for assessment and where he provided a blood sample.
The sample gave a reading of 73 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50mg.
Parker pleaded guilty to one charge of driving a motor vehicle while being over the drink-drive limit.
Decision to drive was ‘stupid one’
Defence agent Gregor Kelly told the court that Parker had been at a party the night prior to the incident.
“He returned home and went to bed but got a call to pick up a friend and had an accident,” he said.
“He thought having been to bed he would be fine to drive – his blood alcohol level was over the limit but not substantially so.
“Mr Parker also took a knock during the incident and there was concern at the hospital about his mental condition.
“He realises that driving when over the limit could have cost him or others their life.”
Sheriff Lesley Johnston told Parker: “The decision to drive when under the influence of alcohol was a stupid one and could have been a lot worse than it was.”
She disqualified Parker, of Berry Howe, Kemnay, from driving for 12 months and fined him £475.
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