News / Four times over limit
A WOMAN who drove to Lerwick’s Gilbert Bain Hospital to visit her husband while almost four times the drink-driving limit has been banned from the road for nearly two years.
Brenda Wishart, of 12 Nortstane, Lerwick, was reported to the police by her own family in an attempt to solve her alcohol problem.
The 62 year old admitted at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday to driving with 87 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath at the hospital, Norstane and the roads in between on 12 May. The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said Wishart turned up at the hospital “clearly intoxicated”.
After her family called the police, the woman failed a roadside screening test and was arrested.
Defence agent Chris Dowle said his client had suffered a relapse with drinking due to “terrific stress”.
She was signed off work for months after fracturing her wrist last year before her husband was “incapacitated” with broken arms and legs following a road accident in April.
Wishart was “very remorseful” and humiliated having committed the offence, Dowle added.
Sheriff Philip Mann said concerns over public safety were paramount when dealing with the case.
“It’s a great shame you appear before me at this stage of your life,” he added.
Sheriff Mann disqualified Wishart from driving for 20 months and fined her £600.
The ban may be reduced by five months if she completes a drink-drivers rehab course.
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