A Tayside driver has been banned from the road after a sheriff refused to believe he had downed whisky after taking a 100ft plunge from Perth’s Friarton Bridge.
Leonard Shaw claimed the backdraft of a passing lorry made him lose control of his car and swerve into the central reservation of the Friarton Bridge near Perth.
He told Perth Sheriff Court he got out to compose himself but as he walked along the bridge he stumbled and careered over the parapet, tumbling to the ground 100 feet below.
Shaw then claimed he found a bottle of Dalwhinnie whisky, which had survivedhis incredible fall, in the pocket of hisbodywarmer after he had failed to give it to his mother at her 90th birthday party.
He said he took several gulps of the whisky before eventually managing to clamber back up a rockface to the bridge more than two hours after he was first seen standing by his abandoned car.
Passing motorists had contacted the police when they first spotted his crashed vehicle, fearing he was preparing to jump from the bridge. Police officers arrived to find no trace of him initially.
However, by the time Shaw sporting a gashed head reappeared over the parapet a full turnout of police, ambulance and fire service lit up the bridge.
Shaw made the astonishing claim he had catapulted off the Friarton Bridge andsurvived the huge drop to the banks of the Tay during his drink-driving trial.
The 63-year-old claimed he had been driving home to Montrose from hismother’s birthday celebrations, having drunk four beers earlier in the evening.
He said he had taken a half bottle ofDalwhinnie for the nonagenarian but had not got round to handing it over because his siblings strongly disapproved of alcohol.
Shaw said he was on his way home when an overtaking lorry caused a gust of wind that blew his Nissan Qashqai out of control.
He said he had over-corrected afterhitting the crash barrier and careered into the central reservation, before bringing the car to a halt and getting out.
Tarmac expert Shaw, of Adams Way, Montrose, denied driving while he was over the legal limit on the M90 Inverkeithing to Perth road at Friarton Bridge on April 19 last year. But his version of events was rejected by the sheriff and he was found guilty of drink-driving, disqualified from the road for three years and fined £500.
The court was told Shaw had a previous conviction for drink-driving and Sheriff Simon Collins said: “It’s his position that he doesn’t have a drink problem.”
Solicitor Steve Lafferty, defending, said: “It’s clearly not a one-off. There is aprevious conviction which indicates there was a difficulty in the past.”