Police stopped a double the limit drink-driver after he was spotted veering in the road, a court has heard.
Jordan Blackley had glazed eyes and slurred speech when officers stopped him near the Highland Rugby Club in Inverness.
His solicitor told the court Blackley had made an “error in judgement” thinking that alcohol he had previously consumed would be out of his system.
Blackley, 27, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of drink-driving.
Fiscal depute Adelle Gray told the court that, on December 3 last year, police noticed Blackley’s black Polo driving towards Inverness city centre.
Police spotted vehicle ‘veering’
She said: “They observed that the vehicle was veering for no apparent reason.”
As a result, officers pulled the car over, finding Blackley in the driver’s seat. His speech was “slurred” and “he had glazed eyes”.
“He stated that he had had several alcoholic drinks earlier that night,” Ms Gray told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald.
A roadside breath test returned a positive result and Blackley was taken to Burnett Road Police Station.
Further testing revealed his breath alcohol level to be 47 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath – more than twice the legal limit of 22 microgrammes.
Solicitor Willie Young, for Blackley, said his client had been driving for more than five years with only one fixed penalty for a speeding offence and had “never been in any trouble before, or indeed since”.
He said that, on the day in question, Blackley had received some “bad news about his grandmother’s health”.
He said: “He was close to his grandmother.”
‘An error in judgement’
As a result of this, Mr Young explained, Blackley “chose to go for a drive to reflect on matters” believing that the previously consumed alcohol would be out of his system.
“It was an error in judgement,” Mr Young told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald.
Sheriff MacDonald told Blackley: “I think you have learned a lesson from this. Alcohol stays in your system for quite some time.
“You must not drive when there is alcohol in your system. There is a reason for that – it is a dangerous activity.”
She banned Blackley, of Lilac Grove, Inverness, from the roads for a year with the option to reduce his ban by three months by completing a self-funded drink-driving rehabilitation course.
She also fined him £580.
