Boozed-up mum caught in driver’s seat by police
Cops found her crying in her pyjamas
A mum has been rapped for getting into her car after storming out of her pal’s house in her pyjamas following a boozy row.
Nicola McArthur, 40, was nabbed in the passenger’s seat after she ran to her car in Johnstone in her stocking feet.
She has been banned from the road after a breath-test showed she was almost three times the limit.
Appearing at Paisley Sheriff Court, McArthur was acquitted of drink-driving, but found guilty of being in charge of the motor while under the influence.
PC Andrew Hamilton told how he found her crying with her keys on the driver’s seat.
He said: “The car was parked length-ways over spaces opposite a block of flats.
“She was sitting in the passenger’s seat.
“We noted a strong smell of alcohol. “She was very upset. “It was raining heavily. The road under the car was wet as well.
“She said she had parked there the previous night and nobody had driven it.”
McArthur claimed she had run to the car after a spat with friend Wendy Archibald, 43.
She had visited and intended to stay.
But the pair had fallen out and she says she ran out without her belongings at almost 5am.
Cops found her in the motor streets away from the home in Chestnut Place, Johnstone.
Ms Archibald told how she turfed McArthur out after they started arguing last October 15.
She said: “I was having a wee bit of a hard time. So was she. “We were drinking white wine. “The more we had, the more upset she was getting. “She got louder and louder. “I told her to leave.” Ms Archibald insisted McArthur had fled into her car and driven off.
She claimed she ran out and “kept banging on the door” and called police, saying she drove off.
The mum added: “She was ignoring me.
“I didn’t want her death on my conscience.
“I would rather she got one for drink-driving than died.”
McArthur dismissed the claims and said she ran off in her socks.
She said: “Wendy had been asking me to go visit her for a long time.
“We grew up together, practically called each other sisters.
“I thought we were going to have a girly night.
“She just started nitpicking at me.
“I was stuck there and didn’t know anybody.”
McArthur says she left after being turfed out, but was not given her boots or clothes.
She told the court her car was parked nearby and she ran to it and called her son Keiran to ask for help.
Police caught up with her while she was on the phone to Keiran, 19.
He told the court he considered riding his motorbike to her with a quilt because he did not have a licence to drive her home.
McArthur has been disqualified from driving after she was handed 10 points.
She already had four penalties on her licence.
Sheriff James Spy insisted there was no proof she had driven, but said she was in charge of the vehicle while inebriated.
He said: “The charge here is driving under the influence of alcohol.
There’s no evidence from police the engine had been running.
“She was in charge of the motor vehicle.
“She may have decided to drive, rather than freeze to death.”
McArthur, of Renton, West Dunbartonshire, was also fined £450.