A repeat drink-diver who was banned from driving for 10 years has been told he is one miss-step away from prison.
George McNaughton was more than three times the legal limit when stopped by police officers as he weaved his way through the streets of Perth.
The town’s sheriff court heard the accused had a number of previous convictions for drinking, the most recent of which, in 2001, resulted in him being disqualified for five years.
This latest incident left him teetering on the brink of a custodial sentence. However, the 63-year-old got one last chance when Sheriff Michael Fletcher imposed 150 hours community service as an alternative.
Though it was early on a Sunday morning the standard of the 63-year-old’s driving was such that Tayside Police received a number of calls reporting a suspected drink driver in the town’s Muirton area.
McNaughton was seen to leave the road and mount a pavement before continuing on into the town centre, where he was swiftly spotted by officers in Dunkeld Road, close to divisional police headquarters. They followed him for a short distance before stopping him as he turned into the town’s Leonard Street.
He was then taken to police headquarters where he gave a positive breath test, registering 121mics (the legal limit is 35mics).
McNaughton, of Prieston Road, Bankfoot, admitted driving on various roads in Perth on June 20 while drunk.
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton said her client had been out drinking the previous evening. “The following morning he drove his car and he now accepts that he should not have done that,” she said.
“His judgment was clouded by the alcohol that he had taken the previous day. Mr McNaughton is deeply ashamed of his actions. He recently lost his partner of more than 20 years and admits that he has sought solace in alcohol. He knows that he needs help with that.”
Ms Cullerton added, “My client has now sold his car and that takes away any temptation to drive when he has been drinking.”
Sentencing McNaughton, Sheriff Fletcher said, “This is certainly not the first time that you have committed an offence of driving with too much alcohol nor even the second. On the last occasion you were banned from driving for five years, and while that appeared to have done the trick for a time, it now appears that you have not learned from that.
“You have put yourself in very grave danger of a custodial sentence having driven again with this level of alcohol.”
The sheriff said custody was among those disposals foremost in his mind, but gave McNaughton one last chance.