A drink-driver was caught more than five-and-a-half times the limit in the early hours of the morning as he drove to the pub with no lights on.
Ewan Taylor had been visiting friends in Alford when they decided to head to a pub in the early hours, with Taylor making the “extremely foolish” decision to drive.
The 35-year-old appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court over the incident, which happened on Greystone Road in Alford at 12.50am on August 11.
Taylor, of Navidale, Caithness, pled guilty to driving a car with 126 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath.
The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
Sheriff Graeme Napier described the alcohol reading as “very high” and told Taylor: “You know how serious this matter is.”
He ordered him to pay a fine of £800 and disqualified him from driving for 16 months.
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Depute fiscal Lynne MacVicar said: “Police constables saw the vehicle being driven.
“The reason officers had stopped the vehicle was due to the fact it was being driven with no lights on and was swerving from side to side.”
Defence lawyer Ian Woodward-Nutt said Taylor and his family had been visiting friends in the Alford area and had been drinking “significant amounts of alcohol”.
He said: “He took the extremely foolish decision to drive to the local pub and while on the way, fortunately he was stopped by the police.
“He appreciates it was entirely inappropriate to do so.”
Mr Woodward-Nutt asked the court to take into account the fact Taylor, who works offshore as a scaffolder, had pled guilty at the earliest opportunity.
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