A 21-year-old Inverness man was kicked out of his mother’s home after committing a variety of driving offences and then resisting arrest.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Levi Smith, formerly of Smithton Park, and now of no fixed abode, had been out drinking on Mad Friday – which fell on December 23 last year.
It is described as such because it is the last Friday before Christmas and traditionally the night that young revellers celebrate the arrival of the festive period.
But Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood heard that Smith had taken his step-father’s van and crashed it into a lamp-post on Tower Road.
Witnesses saw Smith staggering out of the car, and then trying to get it started again before police were called.
When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered that Smith didn’t have a full licence or insurance.
Fiscal depute Laura Ryan told Sheriff Fleetwood: “Smith then began shouting at the police: ‘you prove that I was driving.’
“When he was arrested, he began struggling violently with them and had to be handcuffed. At Burnett Road Police Station, his conduct continued and he failed to provide two breath specimens, claiming he was disabled.”
Smith admitted driving with no insurance, L plates, supervision and refusing a breath test.
He also pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and struggling violently with four officers.
Defence solicitor Pauline Chapman said: “He is not proud of his behaviour and has been excluded from his house, but still in contact with his mother.”
Smith was fined a total of £620,ordered to carry out 170 hours of unpaid community work and banned from driving for two years.
