Jail and ban for being five times over limit

AN UNEMPLOYED Lerwick man has been sent to jail for six months and disqualified for ten years for driving while almost five times the old legal limit.

Andrew Goodlad of Harbour Street was found guilty of the charge during a trial at Lerwick Sheriff Court on 19 March.

When he appeared for sentencing on Wednesday, Sheriff Philip Mann told the 55-year old that he had no alternative but to send him to jail.

Describing the count as “astonishing”, the sheriff told Goodlad that he had committed a very serious offence.

During the trial the court had heard how, following a heavy drinking session with his girlfriend, Goodlad had climbed into his car to drive from her flat at North Lochside to his address at Harbour Street.

Becoming concerned by the state Goodlad was in, she called the police who found him minutes later outside his flat with his car keys in his pocket and the car bonnet still warm.

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Goodlad claimed another man had been at the wheel, but that was denied by the witness during the trial.

Asking for leniency on Wednesday defence solicitor Liam McAlister said his client accepted the conclusion of the court and added that Goodlad had turned around his life since the arrest.

McAlister said Goodlad had accepted that he had an alcohol problem and has since stopped drinking.

He pleaded for his client to be given a community payback order involving unpaid work as a path back into employment.

Following a short adjournment sheriff Philip Mann said that, since Goodlad had a previous conviction for a similar offence, there was no alternative to a custodial sentence.