Court / Man from Glasgow fined and disqualified

A MAN who admitted drink driving and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting and throwing glasses in a Brae pub has been banned from driving for three years and fined £1,100.

Thirty year old Gary Quinn, of Neilston, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to behaving aggressively at the Mid Brae Inn on 16 October this year.

He also admitted driving on the A970 and B9076 roads between the pub and his lodgings at Sella Ness, Sullom Voe, on 17 October with 55 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.

Quinn further admitted driving without insurance and holding a provisional licence while not accompanied by a qualified driver or displaying ‘L’ plates on his vehicle.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that Quinn had told a colleague in the car on the way to the pub that he was going to cause trouble.

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Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said Quinn began pouring other people’s drinks from glass to glass and went on to jump over the serving bar, shouting and throwing glasses, cans of alcohol and other items.

One of the objects narrowly missed striking another patron’s head. He was eventually restrained and escorted from the premises.

Police subsequently tracked him down and were made aware that he had driven between the pub and his accommodation. Quinn failed a roadside screening test and was eventually breathalysed around two and a half hours after the incident.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Quinn had two children with his former partner, and they had recently separated.

He had moved to a community where he did not know anyone to take up work and, while he accepted his behaviour was inappropriate, had felt others in the pub were “ganging up on him”.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined him £600 for the Mid Brae Inn incident, described it as a “concerning example of public disorder”, and fined him a further £500 for the drink driving.

Quinn can reduce his disqualification period by nine months if he successfully completes a drink driver’s rehabilitation course.