News / Disqualified after moving car outside pub
A HEALTH and safety adviser from Dunfermline who moved his car outside a pub on a night out when he realised it was blocking another vehicle has been disqualified from driving.
Charles Waddell, of Beveridge Street, admitted at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday to driving at the Mid Brae Inn public car park on 26 August with 112 milligrammes of alcohol in 100ml of blood. The legal limit is 50 milligrammes.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said police saw the 38 year old getting into his vehicle at around 1.30am after they entered the car park on a patrol.
He was seen reversing into a parking space. Waddell failed a roadside screening test and was arrested.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client had been at the pub with workmates and had realised his car was blocking a vehicle owned by a barman.
Waddell decided to be “helpful” and shifted his car, the solicitor said.
Allan said there was no intention from Waddell to drive home as he had a lift arranged.
The cold weather was also a factor in his client wanting to go in the car, he added.
Allan said Waddell had accepted he had driven the “extremely short distance”.
The solicitor said his client losing his licence would have “serious consequences” for his job and called for Sheriff Ian Cruickshank to take the circumstances of the offence into account.
“I accept that this is perhaps an unusual case,” the sheriff said.
He disqualified Waddell from holding or obtaining a driving licence for the minimum 12 months and fined him £400.
The 38 year old can reduce his ban by one quarter if he completes a drink-driving rehab course.
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