A 46-year-old Belgian tourist has been fined £300 and banned from driving for a year at Inverness Sheriff Court after admitting driving with excess alcohol.
Sheriff David Sutherland was told that Patrice Courtois from Brussels had been out for dinner with his partner and shared a bottle of wine with her on the night of June 2 this year.
The couple were driving back to their accommodation on the A831 at Balnain towards Cannich when his hired vehicle was involved in a minor collision with another car.
Police were called and Courtois, who carried on driving after the impact, but then stopped, was breathalysed. He pleaded guilty to being over twice the legal drink drive limit.
His defence solicitor advocate Mike Chapman said: “He is on holiday and stopped when it was safe to do so.”
