A serial offender has been spared jail despite racking up his seventh conviction for being drunk at the wheel.
Thomas Cassidy had faced a prison term after racking up his 24th motoring offence in total when he was caught drunk at the wheel of a car on Dundee’s Kingsway West in March.
Fiscal depute Lynne Mannion told the city’s sheriff court how police had been alerted to a vehicle being driven erratically from Glasgow to Dundee.
Officers traced the car – with Cassidy at the wheel – on the Kingsway West dual carriageway and pulled him over.
The prosecutor said: “It served within one lane of the carriageway as officers attempted to stop the car.
“It began to roll backwards once stopped and police had to reverse to avoid a collision. They found the accused was the driver and could smell alcohol.”
Cassidy, 31, of Longtown Road, Dundee, pleaded guilty to charges of driving without a licence, without insurance and with 70 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres breath on Kingsway West, Dundee, on March 30 this year.
Defence solicitor Ian Houston said: “He took the chance of driving because he had to get home for his employment.
“It was a calculated risk but he got it wrong.”
Sheriff John Rafferty imposed a community payback order with 18 months’ supervision, 80 hours’ unpaid work and ordered Cassidy be confined to his home address on a tag from 7.30pm until 6.30am every day for six months.
He also banned Cassidy from driving for four years.
The sheriff said: “This is your seventh conviction for drink-driving. The maximum sentence is six months and that would require to be discounted for your early plea.
“You are assessed as being at the maximum risk of reoffending and were well aware at the time you had consumed alcohol.
“You took the risk of breaking the law in the hope you wouldn’t be caught.
“It seems to me that imprisoning you would punish you a little but achieve little else. You are being given a chance here.”
