Court / Driving ban for man who said drink had been spiked with vodka
A MAN who was found to be over the drink driving limit has been fined £900 and banned from the road for a year.
Bradley Clifford, of Kirriemuir, tried to argue at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday that he had been over the limit because someone had put vodka in his lemonade without his knowledge.
Earlier this year the 36-year-old admitted driving a van in Brae on 22 February with 57 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml breath. The legal limit is 22 microgrammes.
A proof of special reasons case took place on Thursday on Clifford’s behalf, requesting there be no disqualification, because he claimed the alcohol reading was a result of laced drinks.
But Sheriff Ian Cruickshank ruled that after hearing from witnesses, including Clifford himself, there was not enough evidence to support his argument.
The court heard from two police officers who saw Clifford leave the Mid Brae Inn in a van shortly before 1am before cutting the corner at the junction with a bollard next to the village’s Co-op supermarket.
The court heard how the police put blue lights, with Clifford’s van then accelerating “harshly” away from the junction before driving into a cul de sac.
The officers described how Clifford stopped his vehicle across a number of parking bays, with the constables – who thought the man might try to run away – then leaving their own van to speak to the accused.
The court heard that officers could smell alcohol from him and saw that Clifford’s eyes were “glazed”.
He failed a roadside screening test and was taken to Lerwick Police Station.
The court heard how the process of booking Clifford into custody and providing a full breathalyser test was not without its hurdles, the accused said to be “interrupting and quite argumentative” – with the sample also not correctly given at the first attempt.
However, one police officer said Clifford later asked if he could apologise to her.
Speaking from the witness stand, Clifford explained how he drove to the Mid Brae Inn at around 10pm to play pool.
With the intention of driving back, he said he had one pint of Tennent’s lager on arrival and some lemonade with ice after.
Clifford said he felt fine to drive and was not aware of being affected by alcohol.
He admitted that cutting the corner at the junction was a “silly thing to do” and added that he drove into the cul de sac to pick up a friend from a house there.
Clifford also told the court that he did not notice police following him with blue lights on.
Regarding what happened in the police station, the accused said he was following instructions and claimed that there had been issues with the breath test, including wrongly inserted mouthpieces.
Clifford told the court that he returned to the Mid Brae Inn around a month later and was told by a man he knew as “John” who had been playing pool on the night in question.
He said John, who he did not know well, admitted that he had put vodka in his lemonade.
The court heard how this man is no longer in Shetland, and that he was not provided as a witness in the case.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie questioned why Clifford had a pint of lager in the first place if he knew that he was going to be driving back, with the accused saying he felt the time between drinking and the pub closing up would have meant he would not have been over the limit.
Summing up, defence agent Tommy Allan encouraged the sheriff to accept that on the “balance of probability” his client was telling the truth.
He also said the procedures in the police station were not significantly delayed.
But Mackenzie suggested Clifford had “panicked” after seeing a police van in Brae and said it was a “vague assertion” that a man called John put vodka in his lemonade.
Sheriff Cruickshank said he was not persuaded that Clifford had tried to delay the procedures in the police station.
However, he was also not persuaded by the argument regarding the alcohol, and disqualified Clifford from driving.
He could reduce the ban by one quarter if he completes a drink-driving rehabilitation course.
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