A driver who crashed his car outside a Highland hospital was over the drink-drive limit, a court has heard.
Andrew Emerson had two passengers in the car when he lost control of his Astra on Ferry Road in Dingwall, leaving the road and hitting residential fences near Ross Memorial Hospital.
When police arrived he told them he had hit a puddle, which had caused the accident, but a roadside breath test showed him to be over the drink-drive limit.
Emerson, 20, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of drink-driving on July 16 last year.
Fiscal depute Adelle Gray told the court that police were called to the scene of the crash at around 5am and found Emerson’s car “across Ferry Road”.
She said: “Tyre markings on the grass verge indicated the vehicle had come off the road and collided with residential fencing before coming to rest.”
Dingwall drink-driver blamed ‘puddle’ for crash
Ms Gray said they Emerson had identified himself to officers as the driver of the car, before explaining he had hit a puddle that had caused him to lose control.
However, he then provided a positive roadside breath sample and subsequent testing revealed his breath alcohol level to be 32 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit being 22 microgrammes.
Emerson’s solicitor Graham Mann told the court that it was a “misjudgement on his part that he went over the limit” and added that his client: “Always accepted that he was to blame.”
He said the security firm worker “accepted that he had taken a drink”.
Andrew Emerson ‘lucky he didn’t kill somebody’
Sheriff David Harvie told Emerson: “The fact is that you had a road traffic collision outside a hospital in a residential area.
“How lucky are you that you didn’t kill somebody either in that area or one of the two other people in the vehicle or yourself?
Handing down a fine of £500 and a 12-month driving ban he said: “I consider the locus – outside a hospital and in a residential area – to be an aggravating factor.”
The sheriff advised Emerson, of Corry Road, Muir of Ord, that he would be able to afford the £100 per month payments towards his fine as he would no longer need to pay £120 per month for his car insurance.
