Drink-driver has failed to convince a court that a week-long bout of constipation caused him to be over the limit.
Donald Findlay told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that bowel problems meant he sometimes didn’t go to the toilet for up to eight days at a time and therefore alcohol “didn’t get out” of his system.
The 66-year-old was caught behind the wheel of his white Ford van at Gordon Schools and other areas in Huntly on August 20 2020 while more than two-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit.
He claimed he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol in the five or six days before the incident but “the toilet thing”, as he described it in court, meant his breathalyser result was 58 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 22mcg.
‘It was all down to the toilet thing’
During a special proof hearing, he was given the opportunity to present medical evidence that his constipation issues caused the illegal reading.
Representing himself, Findlay told Sheriff Ian Wallace: “It was all down to the toilet thing”.
A copy of his medical record was provided to the court by his GP surgery, but it only confirmed that he had been told to stop consuming alcohol in September 2020 – a month after his drink-driving offence happened.
Having failed to provide that special proof, Sheriff Ian Wallace banned Findlay, of Ardlair Terrace, Dyce, from driving for one year and fined him £520.
Afterwards, Findlay addressed him directly once again to state: “That is unfortunate. It was all down to the toilet thing.”
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