A gin-drinking wild camper smashed his car off the road while on the hunt for food in Highland Perthshire.
Medical engineer Charles Matthews was on holiday in Scotland when he came a cropper near the banks of Loch Tummel.
The 24-year-old was more than twice the drink-drive limit when he went shopping for supplies in his Peugeot Verve.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the more he drank, the hungrier he got and “he didn’t think he would last the night”.
Matthews, a hip and shoulder implant specialist from Hathersage in Derbyshire, appeared in the dock and admitted drink-driving on the unclassified Clunie to Foss road on July 21.
He was disqualified from driving for a year and fined £500.
Police called to RTC
Fiscal depute Matthew Kerr told the court: “At about 10.30pm, police were called out to investigate a report of a one-vehicle road traffic collision near Loch Tummel.
“They arrived and found a car had left the road and collided with a warning sign.
“The accused was at the scene and admitted being the driver.”
Matthews was breathalysed with a reading of 43 mics of alcohol in his blood – the legal limit is 22 mics.
Pitched up at Queen’s View
A lawyer for Matthew said his client was “fully compliant” with police and did not have a single point on his licence.
“Mr Matthew was on holiday in Scotland at this time.
“He was camping on his own.
“He had spent the night before at a camp site, further north.
“He travelled down to Loch Tummel and decided to pitch up at the Queen’s View for the night.”
The solicitor said: “He started to drink gin but soon realised that he had no food with him.
“He made an error of judgment to get back in his car and go and buy supplies for the evening.
“The consumption of alcohol made him feeling more hungry and he didn’t think he would last the night.”
He added: “Thankfully no one was hurt in this incident.”
Blighted copybook
The court heard Mr Matthew lives in a remote area in Derbyshire and drives to work each day.
Sheriff William Wood told him: “You are clearly a young man of some considerable talent.
“The work you do is invaluable.
“It is such a shame you have blighted your copybook in this way.”
The Loch Tummel area experienced an explosion of wild camping in recent years, thanks mainly to strict Covid-19 restrictions.
But mess left behind by visitors – and country roads semi-blocked by lines of parked cars – has angered local residents.
In 2021, Perth and Kinross Council announced a £250,000 to tackle so-called dirty campers with the launch of Visitor Rangers at hotspots across the region.
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