A hapless motorist claimed he stubbed his toe and fell off a 100-foot high road bridge before downing a bottle of whisky and clambering back up onto the motorway.
Luckless Leonard Shaw claimed the backdraft of a passing lorry made him lose control of his car and swerve into the central reservation of the Friarton Bridge near Perth.
He said he got out to compose himself but as he walked along the bridge he told a court he stumbled and careered over the parapet and tumbled to the ground 100 feet below.
Shaw then claimed he found a bottle of Dalwhinnie whisky – which had survived his incredible fall – in the pocket of his bodywarmer after he failed to present it to his mother at her 90th birthday party.
He said he took several gulps of the whisky before eventually managing to clamber back up a rockface to the bridge more than two hours after he was first seen standing by his abandoned car.
Passing motorists had contacted the police when they first spotted his crashed vehicle amid fears he was preparing to jump from the bridge. Police arrived to find no trace of him initially.
However, by the time Shaw – sporting a gashed head – reappeared over the parapet a full turn out of police, ambulance and fire brigade lit up the bridge.
Shaw made the astonishing claim that he had catapulted off the Friarton Bridge and survived the huge drop to the banks of the River Tay during a drink driving trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
The 63-year-old claimed he had been driving home to Montrose from his mother’s 90th birthday celebrations after drinking four beers earlier in the evening.
He said he had taken a half bottle of Dalwhinnie for the nonagenarian but had not got round to handing it over because his siblings disapproved strongly of alcohol.
Shaw said he had fallen out with his brother and was on his way home when an overtaking lorry caused a gust of wind which blew his Nissan Qashqai out of control.
He said he had over-corrected after hitting the crash barrier and careered into the central reservation before bringing the car to a halt and getting out.
Tarmac expert Shaw, 63, Adams Way, Montrose, denied driving while he was over the legal limit on the M90 Inverkeithing to Perth road at Friarton Bridge on 19 April last year.
But Shaw’s version of events was rejected by a sheriff and he was found guilty of drink driving and disqualified from the road for three years and fined 500 pounds.
The court was told that Shaw had a previous conviction for drink driving and Sheriff Simon Collins noted: “It’s his position that he doesn’t have a drink problem.”
Solicitor Steve Lafferty, defending, said: “It’s clearly not a one off. There is a previous conviction which indicates there was a difficulty in the past.”