An offshore worker who crashed his £90,000 high-performance estate car then refused to take a breath test has been banned from driving for three years.
But Robert Bremner has been allowed to keep his powerful Audi RS6 Avant after a sheriff decided taking it away from him would be too harsh a punishment.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Robert Bremner – a driller for an Aberdeen-based oilfield service company – was appearing for his second drink-driving offence in as many years.
Fiscal depute Ruairidh McAlistair said police were called to a report of a vehicle on its roof on the A96 Aberdeen-Inverness road between Lhanbryde and Mosstodloch.
Bremner had lost control of the white estate car – which has a 552bhp, 4.0 litre twin turbo V8 engine and is capable of 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds.
After confirming that he was uninjured, police carried out a roadside breath test.
He was asked to blow into the breathalyser twice, but nothing registered on the meter.
The 29-year-old claimed he was attempting to breathe into the device, but officers arrested him after several failed attempts when it became clear he was simulating a blowing action without actually releasing any air.
Bremner, of 37 St Peters Road, Buckie, was taken to Elgin police station and asked to give another breath sample.
However, he again refused to release any air several more times.
The accident happened around 4am on Sunday, October 5 – when the car was just over a year old.
Bremner’s agent, solicitor Stephen Carty, said: “There’s very little that can be added. Mr Bremner accepts he failed to provide a specimen.
“He did not believe he would be over the limit, but he says in hindsight, he should have provided a specimen of breath to the police.”
Mr McAlistair said the Crown Office had an order granted for the seizure of Bremner’s car.
But Mr Carty said due to the “unusual” nature of the vehicle that would be an excessive penalty for the crime committed.
The lawyer told Sheriff Jack Brown that the oilman had outstanding payments of £20,000 on the car, and the financial penalty following a forfeiture would be “massive”.
Sheriff Brown agreed that the value of the car did outweigh the financial penalty appropriate for Bremner’s offence, but added that did not detract from the severity of the case.
He told him: “It appears to me you have paid scant regard to your previous conviction in 2012, and your behaviour also shows you pay scant regard to the legal system.
“You will be disqualified from driving for a period of three years and I am inflicting a financial penalty of £1,500 to be paid within two months.
“I will not make an order for forfeiture, but behave like this again, Mr Bremner, and you will go to prison.”
