A young woman got pulled over for drink-driving just three hours after it became legal for her to have alcohol.
Erin Duncan had been out in Aberdeen city centre celebrating her 18th birthday when she made the “stupid decision” to drink-drive home at 3am.
Duncan, a trainee electrical engineer, was stopped by police as she crossed Victoria Bridge on her way home to Cove and was found to be more than twice the legal alcohol limit.
The 18-year-old was disqualified from driving and fined by a sheriff at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Accused’s speech was ‘slurred’
Fiscal depute Rebecca Coakley told the court that at around 3.20am on October 19 this year, police were on Victoria Road, Aberdeen, on an unrelated matter when they became aware of a white Ford.
Stopping the car, the officers found Duncan to be the driver and whilst chatting with her they noted a strong smell of alcohol, that her speech was slurred and a delay in her response to questions.
She was asked to exit the car and provide a roadside breath test, which gave a positive result for alcohol.
Duncan was cautioned, arrested and taken to Kittybrewster Police Station where she was tested once more, giving a reading of 53 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.
In the dock, Duncan pleaded guilty to one count of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
‘Not a great start’
Defence solicitor Gregor Kelly told the court that his client had been drinking earlier in the evening but had been dancing for the rest of the evening and assumed the alcohol would no longer be in her system.
“Given the lack of available taxis in Aberdeen that night and the fact that some boys she was with looked to be getting in some trouble, she made the stupid decision to take the car,” he said.
“This is not a great start to her driving career, and she has been suitably chastened by this.”
Sentencing Duncan, Sheriff Rhona Wark told her that she hoped this incident would act as a “lesson” to her not to do anything like this again in the future.
The sheriff disqualified Duncan, of Loirston Manor, Aberdeen, from driving for 12 months and fined her a total of £500.
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