By Dave Lord

A PERTHSHIRE man found slumped at the wheel with his car full of empty bottles was jailed at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday.

According to medical experts Trevor Strachan was so drunk he could have died and he was eventually found to be five times over the legal alcohol limit.

Two gin bottles and nine wine bottles—all drained of their contents—were found in the car in which he was unconscious in the driver’s seat in Primrose Crescent, Perth, on August 11 last year.

Strachan’s solicitor told the court if the emergency services had not arrived when they did, it “may have looked like a suicide bid.”

Doctors at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, had to take blood from the 31-year-old, of Perth Road, Birnam, without his consent because they could not wake him.

Analysis several hours after he had been found showed it contained 398 milligrams of alcohol. The legal limit for driving is 80mg.

The reading was so high that a sheriff thought there had been a typographical error on court papers.

The court yesterday heard how members of the public noticed Strachan’s car had been parked extremely close to another vehicle and went to investigate.

They saw he was apparently asleep, even though the key was in the ignition and the engine was running.

Witnesses became concerned when they could not wake him by banging on the windows and, because the doors were locked, called the police and an ambulance.

Officers similarly tried to wake him but were forced to smash a window to get into the car.

Strachan was taken to Ninewells Hospital, where he was unconscious and was breathing slowly, taking around eight breaths per minute.

He was treated as incapable of giving consent for blood samples under the terms of the Road Traffic Act and blood was taken by a doctor.

Police officers in Perth quickly discovered his stash of empty bottles.

“Police remained at the locus and searched the vehicle,” depute fiscal Therese Oswald told the court.

“They discovered two empty bottles of gin and one empty bottle of white wine on the back seat of the car.

“In the boot they found a further eight empty wine bottles and an empty beer bottle.”

Unemployed Strachan pleaded guilty to being in charge of the car while over the legal limit.

His solicitor Billy Somerville admitted that the reading was “incredible.”

“He appreciates if the police had not intervened it may have looked like a suicide attempt but it was not,” he said.

“Without medical treatment he may not have made it on his own.”

Sentencing Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said it was an “exceptionally high” reading.

“You will be off the road for quite a period of time as a result of this,” he told the accused.

Strachan was jailed for 28 days, back-dated to when he was remanded in custody on October 1, and banned from driving for 30 months.