A sous chef who smashed his car while more than three times the legal drink-drive limit said he only crashed because of a “double sneeze”.
Richard Clark ploughed his Ford Fiesta into two parked cars while he was driving along Evan Street in Stonehaven at around 1.35am on July 15.
Following the collision the 28-year-old called the ACR to come and collect him and when they arrived they could tell he had been drinking.
Yesterday Clark, of Greig Place, Stonehaven, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted getting behind the wheel with 77 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 22mcg.
The court heard that when the recovery team arrived at the scene of the crash they found his car badly damaged, the air bags had been deployed and smoke was coming from the vehicle.
Clark then admitted he had been driving the car and the police were called for.
Representing the chef, who works at a hotel in Perthshire, solicitor John Hardie said that his client claimed the crash was caused by sneezing and not being over the limit.
He said: “There is no excuse or explanation for his conduct. He tells me that the crash was as a result of a double sneeze and when he closed his eyes he crashed into the parked cars.
“However, I have told him that the court may take a different view as to what caused the crash.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin fined Clark £600 and disqualified him from driving for a year.