An Aberdeen learner driver has been banned from holding a licence after getting behind the wheel of a car following a boozy night out at a karaoke bar.
Clare Mason, also known as Bruce, admitted driving when very nearly four times the legal limit and without insurance.
The mother, whose address was given as Clifton Road, Aberdeen, also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with stop signs and not displaying learner plates on the Ford Fiesta she was driving.
She and her friends had been in Bardot’s in the city’s Justice Mill Lane early in the morning of November 20, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Fiscal depute Brian Young said the group was seen on CCTV getting into a vehicle, having left the bar at about 2.15am, with Mason “appearing intoxicated”.
“They headed towards Holburn Street with no headlights on,” he added.
“She then turned right on to Holburn Street and nearly collided with a taxi during the manoeuvre, causing the driver to perform an emergency stop.”
He added the car had also been seen on Union Street and nearby Rose Street, before being stopped by police on Chapel Street.
Mason subsequently gave a reading of 87 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The limit is 22 mcgs.
Mason’s solicitor John Hardie said the 29-year-old had found herself “the soberest” of the group, revealing that as her reason for being the one to drive.
Sheriff Graeme Napier fined Mason £740 for the four offences and banned her from holding a driving licence for 16 months.