Drunken driver was swerving around road

IT firm boss was more than six times over legal limit

A business leader who was too drunk to walk when police stopped his car during the rush hour on a busy motorway has avoided prison.

Coatbridge drink-driver Samuel Walker, an IT firm boss and former director of Lanarkshire Chamber of Commerce, sunk “several gins” while driving home from a business meeting in Aberdeen.

By the time the reckless 64- year- old reached Stirling, his driving had so alarmed other motorists that a lorry driver stopped and warned a police patrol that a drunk had been weaving down the A9 from Perth.

The troubling incident occurred at about 5.15pm on May 10 and Walker appeared for sentencing at Stirling Sheriff Court last week.

Ann Orr, prosecuting, said police were on mobile patrol, waiting to join the Keir Roundabout at Dunblane, Perthshire, where the A9 becomes the M9, when a lorry driver pulled alongside them and told them there were “concerns” about a silver WV Golf travelling southbound towards them.

Mrs Orr said: “The HGV driver indicated the car was all over the road and he thought the driver was drunk.

“Officers spotted the car as it joined the M9, driving in an erratic manner, swerving between the lanes and the white lines. They attempted to stop it.

“It took some time to attract the driver’s attention. He seemed to be unaware of the police presence despite the lights flashing and the sirens.

“They eventually managed to wave him down about a mile onwards.”

The depute fiscal said that when officers approached and spoke to Walker, who was at the wheel, there was “an overpowering smell of alcohol coming from the vehicle”.

Mrs Orr said: “Mr Walker was unable to walk unsupported the five metres from his car to the police van, and had to be helped by one of the officers to prevent him from walking onto the carriageway of the motorway.

“He didn’t seem to comprehend what was being asked of him.”

He did, however, provide a roadside sample of breath, which gave a result on the breathalyser of 143 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath – sixand-a-half times the legal limit.

Walker was arrested and taken to the police station for the formal breath analysis procedure, but for technical reasons this was unsuccessful, as was a subsequent attempt to obtain a sufficient sample of blood for analysis.

Mrs Orr said: “He was then examined by a police doctor who formed the view that he was impaired through alcohol.

“He told police he had been in Aberdeen for business meetings and was driving home to Coatbridge.”

Walker, of Glenheath Drive in Glenboig and a director of Cumbernauld- based Scotcomputers Ltd, pled guilty to driving while unfit through drink or drugs.

Defence agent Lisa McGuigan said: “He had stopped north of Stirling for something to eat, and had a few glasses of gin. He thought he would be okay to drive and continued the journey home.

“He tells me there is a difficulty with alcohol.”

Sheriff Alison McKay fined Walker, a first offender, £900 and disqualified him from driving for two years.

She told him: “It appears you were barely able to stand, far less drive a vehicle.

“You knew full well that you shouldn’t have been driving after taking several glasses of gin.”

Banned Walker has been disqualified from driving for the next two years