Court / Drink driver loses licence after taking to wheel in ‘moment of madness’

26 October 2022 12:26

A MAN from Middlesborough who drove dangerously through Shetland while nearly three times the alcohol limit in a self-described “moment of madness” has been banned from the road for a year.

Carlton McCabe told Lerwick Sheriff Court: “You think you are invincible when you are drunk, but you are just an idiot, really.”

The 28-year-old, of The Holgate, appeared at court on Wednesday to admit driving a van with 57 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath between Lerwick and Voe on 1 October. The limit is 22 microgrammes.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving in which he drove at excessive speed and over a roundabout, while he repeatedly veered back and forth in the carriageway.

The charge also stated that McCabe repeatedly crossed the centre line marking, encroached into the opposing carriageway in the face of an oncoming car and repeatedly used his brakes and accelerated harshly.

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McCabe told court that there were three other passengers in the van as he drove back to his digs from Lerwick.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the incident began at the Tesco carpark in Lerwick at around 11.45pm.

Another driver noticed McCabe going at “excessive speed in the carpark” and driving erratically.

The other vehicle happened to be going in the same direction and ended up following McCabe’s van around 14 miles to Voe, witnessing the dangerous driving.

“The people were so concerned they phoned the police as they were following the vehicle,” Mackenzie said.

Police attended and they found the vehicle in a ditch. McCabe complied with the roadside breathing test, and was ultimately taken to Lerwick Police Station.

McCabe, representing himself, admitted it was “just a moment of madness”

He said he was a family man, and a working man, who had never been arrested before.

Sheriff David Harvie said McCabe appeared in court on “serious” charges.

He was disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for one year, and was fined a total of £800 in plus a £40 victim surcharge.

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