A businessman who blocked a McDonald’s drive-through in his badly damaged Porsche said he was fit to drive, despite being nearly seven times the alcohol limit.
Yasin Okhai could barely stand up even though the offence took place the morning after he had been drinking, a court was told yesterday.
Sweet supplier Okhai claimed he believed because he was fit and regularly visited the gym that he would be alright to drive after having a post-booze nap.
Even though he had stopped drinking six hours before he was caught, Okhai had to be helped to stand up by the police officers who arrested him.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told the reading was so high DVLA would continue giving him blood tests to check for alcohol before he could get his licence back.
The Crown asked for Okhai’s Porsche 911 to be forfeited because of the high reading but the motion was rejected by Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown because of the value of the car.
The court heard how officers were at the Camperdown Leisure Park branch of the restaurant when Okhai came to their attention as he briefly blocked the drive-through entrance.
Okhai, 41, Glamis Drive, Dundee, the director of confectionery suppliers Sweetzone Ltd, admitted driving under the influence on November 15 when his reading was 149 mics. The legal limit is 22 mics.
Fiscal depute Gavin Burton said police first became aware of Okhai as he made his way along Dayton Drive to approach the fast food outlet.
“The accused performed a manoeuvre which blocked the entrance,” Mr Burton said.
He added how Okhai continually lost his footing after leaving the car and was taken to police headquarters on West Bell Street and detained.
Solicitor Iain Houston, defending, said: “This was the morning after, believe it or not. He was detected at 9am. He had stopped drinking at 3am, six hours earlier.
“He is fit, attends the gym and fell into the trap of thinking he was fine at the time because he had had a few hours sleep.
“That was clearly not the case and when police caught him outside McDonald’s and breathalysed him this very high reading came to light.
“When his disqualification has expired that is not necessarily the end of it. He falls into the high risk category and will have to provide specimens at the end of the period to be analysed.
“Alcohol dependency can be detected in blood platelets, so even if he’s not had a drink in a few days, it will still show up in his samples. He will have to satisfy DVLA he is not drinking heavily.”
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown disqualified Okhai from driving for 16 months and fined him £600.
