A Forres man who drove on a cocktail of drugs has been banned from the roads for a year.
Thomas Bailey appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court and admitted to getting behind the wheel of his car in 2024 when he was unfit to do.
The court heard he had gone to visit – uninvited – his former partner at her Hopeman home, but had left his vehicle parked without care outside and had clipped the kerb while doing so.
She called the police who arrived shortly thereafter to arrest him.
Prescription drugs behind behaviour
When constables arrived on February 10, Bailey was in the living room of the property muttering things under his breath and swaying.
His defence agent, Mike Chapman explained to the court Bailey, 44, was on prescription drugs which, when combined, could present in the behaviour spotted by police.
These included diazepam and temazepam, both of which were found in his blood when he was tested.
Mr Chapman also noted a guilty plea would have come sooner for his client, but the disclosure of the drug tests and information from Bailey’s own doctor had not arrived before the matter came to court this week.
He said: “Taken together, that can increase the likelihood of the symptoms Mr Bailey was experiencing.”
“His previous convictions are of some vintage,” he added.
Sheriff David Harvie fined Bailey, whose address was given in court papers as Castlehill Road, £400 for the offence in addition to banning him from driving for 12 months.
Mr Chapman had said his client was hopeful of returning to the workforce and had something lined up, but the conviction on Monday will mean that opportunity is lost to him.