A drink-driver who made a ham-fisted attempt to cover up the signs of a collision on a Moray road has been banned.
Adam Szczur and his friends fled from the scene of the crash on the A941 Rothes to Elgin road – taking the car registration plates with them in an effort to hide their involvement.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard Szczur was more than double the legal limit when he got behind the wheel.
He weaved into the path of an oncoming car and they clashed wing mirrors, shattering them onto the road.
After refusing to divulge any personal details to witnesses, Szczur and two friends removed the registration plates from the car so that it couldn’t be identified and fled the scene on foot.
The 27-year-old later told police that the driver of the car which caused the accident “had run off and left it”.
The incident took place on Saturday at about 10.45pm.
Fiscal Kevin Corrins said: “The front wing of both cars clipped each other, though fortunately both vehicles remained on the road.
“They came to a rest about 200 yards apart, and when a witness arrived he observed Szczur and two friends gathering stuff off the road.
“The driver of the other car then saw the men removing the license plates from their vehicle.”
The trio departed the scene without offering any information, but were shortly thereafter traced by police.
Mr Corrins added: “The accused said the driver had run off, but one of his friends was carrying those licence plates.”
Upon further probing by officers, Szczur confessed he had been behind the wheel.
It emerged that Szczur still had 49 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath two hours after the cars collided. The legal limit is 22mcg.
The accused travelled from Southampton to attend yesterday’s hearing, where he admitted charges of drink driving and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
His solicitor, Robert Cruickshank, said Szczur “panicked” following the collision.
Mr Cruickshank added: “He accepts he should not have been driving.”
Szczur, of Hawke House in the English city, was banned from the road for one year and fined £885.
