Drink-driver spared jail for crashing car hours after court ban
Yob admitted guilt then drove over the limit on same day
An ‘idiotic’ driver caught over the limit just hours after being spared jail for a drink-driving offence has dodged jail again.
Jamie Alexander, 27, smashed his Vauxhall Corsa into a fence at a farm while nearly three-times the drink- driving limit – resulting in the animals escaping from the field and flooding onto the road.
He was drunk at the time as he had gone to the pub to celebrate being spared jail for a previous drink-driving offence.
Alexander appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last month and pleaded guilty to two charges – drink-driving, while nearly three-times the limit and being in possession of a stanley blade in public.
He could have been caged for up to 12 months for the offences but was spared prison, instead being fined £900 and banned from driving for 12 months.
He then went to the pub with a friend, drank again, then drove home while over the limit, lost control of his car and crashed into the fence at the farm.
The details emerged last month when Alexander again appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to four charges: driving while disqualified, drinkdriving, driving without insurance and careless driving.
Procurator Fiscal Depute Carol Cameron said the offences took place on Tuesday, August 28, just after Alexander had been at court where he pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was banned from driving for a year.
The prosecutor said: “At around 1pm the owner of the farm was informed that livestock had got out of the field and were on the road.
“The farmer went to see and on the way there he saw the fence had been damaged – the damage being consistent with the fence having been struck by a vehicle.
“A red Vauxhall Corsa was positioned further along Candren Road, Paisley, with collision damage to the front of it.”
Defence solicitor Amy Spencer said: “To describe these offences as mindless, irresponsible and idiotic would be understating it.
“He has landed in a lot of hot water.
“Why he drove to court on the day of a drink- driving trial he cannot explain.
“He pleaded guilty and was banned. He then had alcohol with someone he met in court and had planned, he tells me, to get public transport home but then decided, stupidly, to chance it– and devastation has followed.”
Sentence was deferred for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing and Alexander returned to the dock to learn his fate.
Miss Spencer asked for leniency for Alexander, who had been remanded in custody to await sentence.
She said his girlfriend was struggling “emotionally and financially” as he had been remanded and that he knew his actions had been “beyond stupid.”
She pointed out he had spent three weeks behind bars, adding: “He never wants to return to custody.”
After hearing that he works as a landscape gardener and had written to the farmer apologising and offering to fix the fence and field, Sheriff James Spy spared him jail.
He placed Alexander, of Johnstone, on a year- long Community Payback Order, which will see him supervised by social workers.
He was also told to complete 250 hours’ unpaid work in 10 months and was banned from driving for 42 months.