A drink-driver who crashed his BMW and ran from the scene of the accident was later found by police being driven in his mother’s car.
Barry Grant drove his white BMW into a road sign at the side of the A96 before leaping from the vehicle and running towards Huntly.
Police hunted the 37-year-old across the town before they eventually found him in his mother’s car, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Suspecting he had been drinking, he was tested and found to be well over the drink-drive limit.
Fiscal depute Sean Ambrose told the court that at around 11.10pm a motorist came across a vehicle that had crashed near the A96 Huntly bypass.
He also saw a man making off towards the direction of Huntly so he reported it to police.
Following a check of the car, it was discovered it no longer had a valid MOT and a search began for Grant across Huntly.
Officers found a vehicle belonging to Grant’s mother and when they stopped the car he was in the passenger seat smelling strongly of alcohol and with bleary eyes.
A roadside test was carried out that showed he had been drinking alcohol.
Family bereavements caused difficulties
Grant then provided a blood sample that gave a reading of 79 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 50 milligrammes.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and a second charge of driving a car with an expired MOT.
Defence solicitor Neil McRobert told the court that Grant was “having difficulties” at the time due to a number of family bereavements.
“He came home and found that his grandfather had been taken into hospital and he responded to that by drinking,” Mr McRobert said.
Sheriff Eric Brown told Grant: “I hope you have been able to address the difficulties that you faced.
“But with your traffic record I am left with no alternative but to impose the mandatory minimum disqualification on this occasion.”
Sheriff Brown disqualified Grant, of Inschfield Cottages, Insch, for driving for three years and fined him a total of £540.
