Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Man who lives in layby banned from the roads after drug-driving

Roger Alsop stays in the dismembered rear part of a campervan halfway between Garve and Ullapool.

Roger Alsop was stopped on Quay Street, Ullapool.  File image: Google Street View
Roger Alsop was stopped on Quay Street, Ullapool. File image: Google Street View

A man who lives in a Highland layby has been banned from the roads after being caught drug-driving.

Roger Alsop also had no insurance – a result, his solicitor said, of attempts to live an ‘off-grid’ life.

Alsop, 57, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit charges of drug-driving and driving without insurance.

Fiscal depute Emma MacEwan told the court that Alsop was stopped by police on Quay Street, Ullapool, on the morning of December 10 2021.

A police national computer check revealed his vehicle to be uninsured and while speaking with him officers noted the smell of cannabis.

Accused lives in ‘dismembered rear part of a campervan’

Alsop was then required to provide a sample of saliva for a roadside drug test.

“The drug wipe tested positive,” Ms MacEwan told the court.

Subsequent tests showed that Alsop had three micrograms of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, a cannabis constituent, per litre of blood, the legal limit being two micrograms.

Defence solicitor Neil Wilson said Alsop lived in the “dismembered rear part of a campervan halfway between Garve and Ullapool”.

He told the court his client, whose not guilty pleas to charges of not wearing a seatbelt, driving a vehicle that was incorrectly registered and not having the registration mark affixed were accepted by the Crown, was attempting to live “off grid”.

‘Horizons would be considerably constricted by roads ban’

He said Alsop had lived this way since selling his former home 10 years ago, adding that his client had no interest in “engaging with society”.

He said Alsop would sometimes travel from his home to the coast to pick up litter, but that his horizons would be considerably constricted by the inevitable ban that would result from his guilty plea to the drug-driving charge.

Mr Wilson said: “He was unaware that if one smokes cannabis it is still in your bloodstream the following day.”

The court heard that Alsop’s lack of insurance was simply “part of the general pattern of living off grid and below the radar”.

Sheriff Robert Frazer banned Alsop from the roads for 12 months and fined him a total of £640 pounds.