A “drunken prank” turned serious for a Moray man when police caught him behind the wheel of his girlfriend’s car more than four times the legal alcohol limit.
Engineering student, Stuart Engelman, had been drinking with friends in the Forres pub where his partner, Nicole Campbell, was working on Saturday, February 6.
At closing time, Miss Campbell handed the accused the keys to her car, parked nearby, so that he and his drinking partners could wait for her to finish her shift.
The court heard that the intoxicated 23-year-old then devised a plan to pull the wool over his partner’s eyes by moving the vehicle to another location.
However, police officers, patrolling Tolbooth Street, failed to appreciate the accused’s attempt at a joke.
Fiscal Kevin Corrins said: “Miss Campbell left her work, and noticed a car that looked familiar being driven past the pub without its lights on.
“Police fell in behind the car, and, when they stopped it, they found the accused driving with three of his friends also inside.
“They detected a strong smell of alcohol, and took Engelman to Elgin station to have his breath analysed.”
An hour on from his arrest, it emerged that Engleman still had 92 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Engelman, of 4 Braemoray Apartments on Balnageith Road in Forres, admitted charges of drink driving, taking away a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner and getting behind the wheel without insurance or a licence.
Engelman’s solicitor, David Adam, said the incident was intended as a light-hearted ruse.
Mr Adam said: “My client’s position is that this was a drunken prank, intended as a joke on his partner by moving the car around a corner.
“He concedes that the joke is very much on him now, and he regrets this moment of stupidity.”
Mr Adam said his client, who holds a provisional driving licence, had sat and failed one test in recent months.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov fined Engelman a total of £800 and banned him from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 18 months.
She told him: “This would maybe have been funny if you hadn’t been more than four times over the limit.”