A drink-driver pulled over by police had empty bottles of wine and spirits in his car, a court has heard.
Allan McIntyre was more than four times the drink-drive limit when officers stopped him in Inverness.
His solicitor said his lifestyle had “taken a bit of a spiral” following a breakup.
McIntyre, 45, was sentenced at Inverness Sheriff Court, having admitted a single drink-driving charge in relation to the incident on April 19 last year.
Fiscal depute Emma MacEwan told the court that McIntyre’s vehicle had drawn the attention of police on Culloden Road at around 5.30pm.
‘A strong smell of alcohol’
He was pulled over in the car park of Simpsons Garden Centre, where officers noted his red, glazed eyes and slurred speech. There was a strong smell of alcohol.
They also noted “numerous plastic bags containing empty bottles of alcohol, wine and spirits”.
When McIntyre was required to take a roadside breath test he told officers he had been drinking alcohol heavily in the last two days.
He failed the test and subsequent testing revealed his breath alcohol level to be 105 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 22.
Solicitor David Patterson, for McIntyre, told the court that his client was going through a “particularly difficult period in his life” at the time of the offence.
Drink-driver’s ‘poor decision-making’
He said: “He chose to use alcohol as a coping mechanism, which led to the poor decision-making and to him taking the vehicle.”
Mr Patterson explained: “His lifestyle had taken a bit of a spiral as a consequence of the breakdown in his relationship. He was drinking to excess and quite a mess.
“He is quite ashamed of himself and rightly so.”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald banned McIntyre, of Lower Hempriggs, Kinloss, from driving for 19 months and ordered him to complete 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.
She said: “This was an exceptionally high reading. Driving whilst under the influence of alcohol is always dangerous and more dangerous the more drunk you are.
“You should be grateful that nothing other than being pulled over by police happened.”