A fish factory worker drove through Aberdeen while six times the legal alcohol limit as he tried to calm down after a furious row with his wife.
Sergejs Jerasonaks appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, where he was fined £1,400 and banned from the road for more than three years.
After hearing his explanation for the offence, Sheriff Graeme Napier told the 34-year-old he “could have gone for a walk” to help cool his temper following the tiff.
His black Mercedes Benz was stopped by police at around 11.40pm on Saturday, February 8.
The court heard that officers noticed the car swerving on Victoria Road at its junction with Grampian Road in the Torry area of the city.
Fiscal depute, Brian Young, said the police had spotted the vehicle a short distance ahead and noticed it was “failing to keep to the correct lane”, before they decided to pull the car over.
When officers went to the vehicle to speak with Jerasonaks, they noticed a “strong smell” of alcohol.
Jerasonaks, of the nearby Balangask Road, claimed that he got into the car after a heated argument with his wife.
Defence agent Alex Burn said his client had been in the country for five years and his two children, aged 12 and 15, were due to come over and join him.
Mr Burn noted that Jerasonaks clearly had too much to drink on the date in question.
But he said the 34-year-old was currently in full-time employment at a fish factory – meaning he was in a position to pay a financial penalty.
Sheriff Napier pointed out the “extraordinarily high” reading of 132 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, when the legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
“If you wanted to cool off, you would go for a walk,” he added.
Jerasonaks was fined £1,400 which was reduced from £2,000 on account of his guilty plea.
In addition to the financial penalty, he was disqualified from driving or obtaining a licence for a period of 40 months.