A drink-driver who blacked out at the wheel and ploughed in a central reservation while driving on the A9 has walked free from court.
Rebecca Bolton accepted she knew she was over the limit and admitted it was only through ”luck” that had not killed herself and other road users.
But the 34-year-old, who has a previous conviction for drink-driving, escaped with just a four-year ban during an appearance at Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Bolton lost control of her luxury Lexus car near Pitlochry and crashed, but was oblivious to the incident until she awoke to find the vehicle in the centre of the road.
She had already driven 125 miles from Portmahomack in the Highlands down some of the country’s most dangerous stretches of road.
The court heard that, when a police doctor took a blood test more than three hours after she began her journey, she remained two and a half times the legal alcohol limit.
Bolton got behind the wheel having spent an evening drinking with friends and family while on holiday in the Highlands.
She was emotional and distraught, the court heard, having just discovered her boyfriend in a compromising position with another woman.
In a letter to the court, Bolton said: ”I was very upset, to put it mildly. Before I realised what I was doing, I was in my car driving down the A9 towards home.
”The next thing I remember was waking up in my car, crashed into a central barrier.”
Witnesses found Bolton’s car ”stuck on the central barrier” on a dual carriageway stretch just south of Pitlochry at around 2.40am on August 19. They pulled into the nearest layby and contacted the emergency services before approaching her car to offer assistance.
Bolton was still sitting in the driver’s seat, but was helped from the vehicle and led back to the safety of the layby from where both parties awaited the arrival of police officers.
They spoke to Bolton at the scene, but after a breathalyser failed to operate correctly at the roadside had to wait until a blood sample could be taken at a police office before they could confirm that she had been driving while the influence.
Bolton of Denham Avenue, Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire, later admitted driving a car with excess alcohol (198mgs). The limit is 80mgs.
Solicitor John McLaughlin said his client ”came from a good family” and was ”extremely embarrassed to be appearing in court”.
”She made a very poor decision and is extremely apologetic,” he said. ”She finds herself in court in connection with a very serious matter and it has been a salutary lesson to her.”
Mr McLaughlin commented that his client had been given the opportunity of attending a drink-driver rehabilitation course following her previous conviction, but accepted that this ”had not stuck”.
”On this occasion her emotions simply ran away with her,” he added.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher banned Bolton from the road and also made her subject to a community payback order for the next 12 months. In addition, he ordered that she attend a drink impaired drivers’ programme.
”This was your second conviction for drink-driving an offence that the courts treat very seriously,” the sheriff said.