A Banff man has lost his licence – and his job – after he decided to take his wife shopping in a company van while drunk.
Leeandrew McLeod, 32, was given his company van home for the weekend but was only insured to use it for business.
Despite this, and having consumed alcohol that evening, he agreed to take his partner to the local Aldi for some shopping where he was collared by police.
Banff Sheriff Court heard on Monday that officers had been tipped off anonymously about McLeod’s driving and swooped while he was parked in the supermarket’s car park.
He has now been banned from the roads for a year.
A double price paid
McLeod’s defence solicitor, Leonard Burkinshaw, said his client accepted he was facing a driving ban following his conviction.
“He had it, essentially, home that weekend. He would have been insured if he had been driving for work purposes, but it wasn’t work purposes,” he said.
“He had been drinking earlier on that evening. Foolishly, he thought he was okay.
“He’s obviously paying for that now and, in fact, paid a double price for it because he got sacked. He’s not working at all.”
Overseeing the case, Sheriff Robert McDonald branded McLeod’s actions as “stupidity” in his sentencing.
In addition to taking him off the roads, the sheriff fined McLeod £420, which he will pay at the rate of £20 per fortnight.
He said: “You’ve already paid a price for what was just stupidity on your part.
“I’m taking into account the price that you have paid by not imposing quite so high a fine as I might otherwise have done.”
McLeod, of St Catherine Street, is suitable for the drink-driving rehabilitation course, which, if he completes it, will make him eligible to reduce his ban by a quarter.