A Caithness man who was four times the legal limit has been fined £500 and banned from the roads for 16 months.
James Sutherland, 55, admitted the offence at Wick Sheriff Court yesterday.
He was caught by police at the junction of the A9 Inverness-Thurso with Neil Gunn Road, Dunbeath, on July 27.
Tests revealed that Sutherland had a breath-alcohol level of 147mgs. The legal limit is 35mgs.
The court was told that Sutherland, of The Willows, Dunbeath, had turned his life around and was so highly regarded by his employers that they had funded his legal representation.
A motion by David Barclay, prosecuting, for forfeiture of the car Sutherland was driving at the time, was rejected by Sheriff Andrew Berry because it belonged to someone else.
