An NHS dentist who was three times the limit when she was breathalysed after getting her car stuck on a flower bed has avoided a driving ban.
Samantha Mackay admitted being drunk in charge of the vehicle but her solicitor told Inverness Sheriff Court she had drunk from a bottle of Baileys after realising she was stuck.
When her partner and his sister arrived they noted that Mackay, who has two previous drink-driving convictions, had slurred speech and her breath smelled of alcohol.
Mackay, 47, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit being in charge of a vehicle while over the legal alcohol limit.
Sheriff Gary Aitken told her: “There is never a problem in your life that will be made better by consuming a bottle of Baileys.”
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver said that it was around 4pm on December 29 last year Mackay’s partner received her call for help.
She said: “She had got her car stuck behind Loch Ness Country House Hotel and she required assistance in moving it.”
The man contacted his sister and they both travelled to the scene, where they found Mackay waiting.
“The vehicle had become stuck on a small embankment or flower bed,” Ms Silver said.
Stranded driver’s ‘slurred speech’
It was at this point that the pair noted that “her speech was slurred and they could smell alcohol on her breath”.
The partner took Mackay to Inshes to get some food, but when they were gone the sister made a call to police to advise them of her suspicions.
Mackay was then traced and subsequent testing revealed her breath alcohol limit to be 66 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath – three times the legal limit of 22.
Solicitor John MacColl, for Mackay, told the court his client had been attending a conference nearby but had become lost and entered the hotel car park.
He said it was only after she got her vehicle stuck that she decided to drink from a bottle of Baileys – that she happened to have with her – while she waited for help.
He stated: “She had not consumed alcohol prior to driving at all.”
Sheriff Aitken was told that Mackay, of Castlehill Gardens, Inverness, is an NHS dentist currently based at Raigmore Hospital. She plans to take up a new post in Orkney shortly.
Mr MacColl said: “It will involve driving from place to place.”
He said his client had been diagnosed with PTSD relating to events in her past and added: “She is a hard-working lady who has had difficulties in her life, but has managed to overcome them.”
Driving ‘is a privilege not a right’
Sheriff Aitken said: “If she does find herself back in court as a result of alcohol, or a vehicle or worth a combination of both, she is at a point where, regardless of her hard-working and her usefulness to society, she will be jailed.”
Handing down a fine of £1,675 and issuing 10 penalty points, he told Mackay – whose licence has already been revoked by the DVLA: “There is never a problem in your life that will be made better by consuming a bottle of Baileys – particularly where you are anywhere near a vehicle, particularly with your record.
“Driving is very much a privilege and not a right.”
