A police officer who drove to work in the morning while five times over the drink-drive limit has been banned from getting behind the wheel for 16 months and fined £800.
Allison Heap, 51, of the Northern Division of Police Scotland, pleaded guilty to the offence at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald was told the officer arrived at police headquarters on the city’s Old Perth Road at 8am on October 1 last year.
She parked her car and went to her office, but colleagues smelled alcohol off her breath.
When she was tested almost two hours later, at 9.55am, her reading was more than five times over the legal limit for alcohol in her breath.
The mother-of-two, from Maryburgh, had 115 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the limit is 22mcg.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court: “She drove into the Divisional Headquarters car park and it became apparent when she spoke to colleagues that she had been drinking. So the usual breath test was carried out.”
Defence solicitor John MacColl said: “She is a serving police officer and is currently suspended. She apologises for the error of judgement. There is no other particular plea of mitigation I can make.
“She has suffered medically as a result and is under the care of various doctors. She has also been referred for alcohol treatment.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We are aware of the outcome of the case and a report will be made to Deputy Chief Constable for People and Professionalism Fiona Taylor for consideration of misconduct proceedings.”
