A nursing student claimed she was trying to be a Good Samaritan when she was caught driving drunk and erratically around a city.
Gemma Robertson, 26, has been banned from driving for 12 months after she admitted being behind the wheel while she was more than double the limit.
Robertson, who is studying mental health nursing at university, was also fined £400 after she admitted driving with excess alcohol (126mgs/50) at Dundee Sheriff Court.
She told the court she believed she would be OK to drive when she went out to help someone she thought was having a panic attack.
Stopped drinking hours earlier
Robertson, from Dundee, was driving her Hyundai Tucson in the city’s Buttars Loan on December 12 last year when police spotted her and pulled her over.
Fiscal depute Christine Allen told the court: “At 3.40am the police spotted the accused driving erratically and stopped the vehicle.
“She was in the driver’s seat and appeared under the influence of alcohol.”
Solicitor Doug McConnell, defending, said: “She has never been in trouble and is really upset about being in court.
“She was on a night out before this.
“She had stopped drinking around midnight.
“She received a phone call from her boyfriend’s sister, in which she sounded like she was having a panic attack in Dundee.
“She had stopped drinking and felt she was competent to drive and drove into Dundee.
“The police who spotted her were trying to find the sister.
“She used to work in the community health team.”
‘Valuable member of society’
Sheriff John MacRitchie said: “It is unfortunate somebody at your age, who will clearly become a valuable member of society, gets involved in this type of incident.
“I’m prepared to put this down as a one-off aberration on your part.
“You did it without thinking it through on the day.
“I hope you will continue to be a valued member of society, as you have in the mental health team in the past and in future when you qualify as a nurse in due course.”
