A Highland mobile phone engineer was fined £700 and banned from driving for a year after admitting his second drink-driving related offence.
James Davis, of Castle Road East in Grantown, has been suspended from his job since he appeared last month at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit being in charge of his works van after drinking.
But now he faces the prospect of losing his employment job as he had to travel 40,000 miles a year.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood told him: “You were indeed fortunate that you only had points endorsed on your licence when you were sentenced on your first offence in 2011.
“Why someone would take drink and get into a vehicle a second time is beyond me.”
The court heard that 55-year-old father of four had been at the works Christmas party in Inverness on December 9 and spent the night in a local hotel.
He returned the next day to the BP Filling Station in Longman Road to pick up his work’s van and went in to the shop to buy a bottle of vodka, fiscal depute David Morton said.
“He was seen by police officers who were also at the filling station and he was required to give a breath sample which proved positive,” he added.
Davis was taken to a police station where he gave a reading almost five times the limit.
Solicitor Willie Young said: “He had been drinking heavily the night before and did the responsible thing of staying in a local hotel. He took a bus to the city centre to get his works vehicle, not realising he was still over the limit.
“He had no intention of driving it right away.”