A man who admitted drink-driving at almost five times the legal limit has been banned from the roads for 14 months and fined £690.
Alasdair Matheson pled guilty to a single drink-driving charge at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
Fiscal Depute Emily Hood told the court the 20-year-old had been caught on Barn Church Road on July 11 after police were called to deal with a separate incident.
She said: “Police attended in relation to another matter and found the accused standing next to the vehicle. He identified himself as the driver.”
Driver failed roadside test
Miss Hood told the court that a roadside alcohol test was carried out and Matheson failed.
Subsequent tests revealed Matheson’s breath alcohol reading to be 108 micrograms per 100 millilitres, almost five times the legal limit of 22 micrograms.
Solicitor Rory Gowans for Matheson, an apprentice joiner, told the court the incident represented “a big but hopefully one-off mistake” for his client.
He explained that Matheson, of Viewhill, Inverness, had driven himself to a friend’s house for drinks and had then decided to drive himself home.
“With the benefit of hindsight and sobriety, he appreciates how foolish and potentially dangerous this was,” Mr Gowans said.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Matheson £690 and disqualified him from driving for 14 months, with the option to take a drink-drivers rehabilitation course that would reduce the length of his ban by a quarter.
