A motorist has been banned from driving for five years after getting behind the wheel while both drunk and disqualified.
Edward Welsh was more than six times the legal limit when he took to the treacherous A96 Aberdeen to Inverness Road in June this year.
The 39-year-old soon came to the attention of the police, with officers seeing his car repeatedly swerving around the carriageway.
As his erratic driving continued he mounted the kerb at the side of the road, all in full view of officers on a routine mobile patrol.
Welsh was eventually pulled-over on West Road in Elgin and swiftly admitted he had been drinking earlier in the day.
After being breathalysed, he was found to be more than six times over the drink drive limit, having 139mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath at the time of the offence. The legal limit is just 22mcg.
It was later discovered that he was also banned from driving until 2020.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that Welsh, from Glasgow, was in the region for work and claimed to have come to the aid of one of his ex-partners, who visited and then suffered car problem.
Defence solicitor Matthew O’Neil said his client was very “remorseful” for his actions and was seeking help to solve his ongoing struggles with alcohol.
He said: “My client has become quite emotional about what could have happened that day and he is remorseful.
“He knows he needs to get on the straight and narrow but that will take time. He got into an extremely bad situation that he will live with for the rest of his life.
“He wants to show the court he will change.”
Welsh of Ballgarry Road in Glasgow has been undertaking alcohol counselling sessions at Quarriers in Elgin.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov acknowledged Welsh’s attempts to combat his drinking problem and chose not to give impose a prison sentence.
Welsh pleaded guilty to drink driving and driving while disqualified on June 21.
In addition to being banned from the road he was also ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, seek alcohol counselling and was placed under social work supervision for 12 months.
