A Highland League footballer has been shown the red card by a sheriff and banned from the roads for a year after police were tipped off about his drink driving.
Fort William striker Scott Graham was more than three times the limit when cops stopped his car yesterday.
Appearing from custody at Inverness Sheriff Court, the footballer pleaded guilty to driving with 79mcgs of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 22mcg.
The court heard that police staged a look-out for the 34-year-old, who previously featured for Clachnacuddin, Brora Rangers, Nairn County, Strathspey Thistle, Buckie Thistle and Forres Mechanics, after an anonymous tip-off.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir said that Graham was stopped between the Blar Mhor roundabout and the B8006 junction to Fort William and he co-operated fully.
“He admitted that he had had a few drinks,” he added.
Defence solicitor Marc Dickson said his client was a fish farm worker in the Fort William area and had travelled to meet up with work-mates.
‘An ill-judged decision’
Mr Dickson said: “He was invited to a barbecue and drinks but can’t explain why he decided to return home to Drumnadrochit, rather than stay where he was.
“It was an ill-judged decision which he bitterly regrets.”
As well as handing down the 12-month driving ban, Sheriff Sara Matheson fined Graham, of of Borlum, Drumnadrochit, £300.
She also allowed him to participate in a drink driver rehabilitation scheme, which will earn him a three-month discount from his ban if he successfully completes it.
