A serial drink-driver has been jailed after getting behind the wheel while more than four times the limit with a young child in the car.
During her alcohol-fuelled journey, Suzanne Davidson crashed into two parked cars with such force that her vehicle was seen travelling on only two wheels.
One of the cars she smashed into was declared a write-off.
Yesterday, the 40-year-old was sentenced to four months in prison for committing her third drink-driving offence after the sheriff branded her a danger to the public.
Davidson also admitted driving carelessly and exposing a young child to physical danger when she appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
The court heard Davidson had 150 micrograms of alcohol in a sample of her breath when police arrested her on June 21. The legal limit is 35mcg.
Fiscal depute Lorna Harris said police had started to receive phone calls about Davidson’s driving at about 3.10pm that day. She had been spotted leaving an address in Cults before heading to a nearby nursery.
Mrs Harris said staff at the nursery noticed she smelled strongly of alcohol when she arrived there. Davidson got in the car again after strapping the youngster into a seat in the back.
Concerned staff called the police.
The fiscal depute said a member of the public was at a pedestrian crossing on North Deeside Road at about 3.50pm when they heard a bang and saw Davidson’s car had struck another vehicle.
The pedestrian then watched as the vehicle swerved into the middle of the road, crossing into the opposite carriageway.
The court was told Davidson then swerved back on to the correct side of the road, but went too far across and struck another parked car.
Mrs Harris said witnesses who saw the crash said Davidson had collided with the last vehicle with such force that her car continued to travel along, but only on two wheels.
She said people were concerned the vehicle may have been about to flip over.
The damage caused to the parked car was estimated at £3,200 and the vehicle was deemed a write-off.
Just before 4pm, police arrived and found Davidson’s car with the keys in the ignition and the engine still running.
The child was discovered strapped into the back seat and seemed “visibly distressed”.
Representing Davidson, solicitor Ian Woodward-Nutt said his client was an alcoholic who had been “clean” for a number of weeks.
On the day of the incident, he said, she had been asked to pick up the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from a nursery in Cults.
He said she had been drinking through the day and had decided to go for a nap.
he set her alarm for 2.30pm knowing that the nursery shut at 3pm, which would give her enough time to walk to pick up the child.
However, Davidson slept through her alarm and “panicked” when she realised what time it was and “foolishly” jumped in the car.
Mr Woodward-Nutt urged Sheriff William Summers to allow Davidson, of 612 Great Northern Road, to keep her liberty as he said a custodial sentence would erase all the work she had done to address her alcohol problem. The sheriff said: “I recognise entirely that the imposition of a custodial sentence would have no benefit whatsoever on your rehabilitation.
“However, this is your third drink-driving conviction in three years and, on this occasion, you were more than four-and-a-half times the limit.
“I would be failing in my duty to the public if I did not send out a message that this behaviour is not to be tolerated.”
Davidson was also banned from driving for five years.