A disqualified driver who got behind the wheel while he was almost six times the legal limit was beginning a 22-week prison sentence last night.
Vaidas Petravicius was caught by police in Peterhead on May 31 – just 13 days after he was banned for drink driving at the town’s sheriff court.
A test showed he had 121 micograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.
Yesterday, the 34-year-old, whose address was given as 113 Longate, returned to court to be sentenced for driving while over the limit, disqualified and without insurance.
He had admitted the offences at an earlier hearing.
Fiscal depute Lixia Sun said Petracivius had two passengers in his car when he was stopped by police and “openly admitted he had consumed alcohol that evening”.
Solicitor Ian Jane asked the sheriff to consider a community payback order in light of his client’s early guilty plea.
“Mr Petravicius certainly appreciates, in the preparation of reports, how serious this is,” Mr Jane said.
“An alternative to custody would be of some benefit to all parties concerned in this case. Would he to receive a custodial sentence his job would be lost to him, as well as his accommodation, and the payments to his child would be lost as well.”
However, Sheriff Mann ruled that Petravicius posed a “substantial risk” to the public and sentenced him to 22-weeks in prison.
He also banned him from the roads for four years and ordered his vehicle – worth £800 – to be forfeited the Crown.
He said: “Despite being disqualified, you have again decided to drive with excessive alcohol – and we are not talking about a small excess.
“It seems to me that no alternative to a custodial sentence would be appropriate.”
