Drink driver who crashed into fence is banned for a year

A MAN from Voe who crashed his car into a fence while he was over the drink-driving limit has lost his licence for a year.

Matthew Jamieson, of Venndale, admitted at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday to driving on the A970 at Voe on 29 January with 72 milligrams of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 50 milligrams.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said emergency services were called at around 11pm after an automatic alert was activated in his car when the 33-year-old’s vehicle went off the road.

He was taken to Lerwick’s Gilbert Bain Hospital before police took a blood sample. Open beer cans were visible in Jamieson’s car, Mackenzie added.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Jamieson didn’t think he would have been over the limit because he was used to the old threshold of 80 milligrams.

His client was suffering from anxiety at the time and was under stress due to breakdowns in his private life and his business, Allan added.

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Sheriff Philip Mann, however, said it was “neither here nor there” that his count was under the old limit.

The sheriff disqualified Jamieson from holding or obtaining a driving licence for 12 months and fined him £400.

The ban may be reduced to nine months if he completes a drink-driving rehab course.