Put off the road for four and a half years

A former HGV driver was spared jail at Perth Sheriff Court this week despite racking up his third drink driving conviction.

Instead, 33-year-old Ross Baxter was banned for four-and-a-half years and ordered to complete 225 hours of community work within the next 12 months.

He registered surprise at the length of the ban but Sheriff Gillian Wade told him: “You can look as astonished as you like.

“It’s quite surprising you take that attitude given your record.”

He admitted driving with more than double the legal limit of alcohol in his blood on Coupar Angus Road, Blairgowrie, on July 21 last year.

His reading was 131 milligrammes - the legal limit is 50.

Depute fiscal Robbie Brown said police on mobile patrol followed his vehicle about 10.30pm.

He was seen “clipping the kerb a couple of times” and was stopped.

They immediately detected a smell of alcohol on his breath and he was taken to the police station.

“Through no fault of his own, the blood test wasn’t taken until two hours later because of a failure in the CAMIC (breath test) procedure.”

A solicitor for the accused said there had been a seven-year gap in his offending and his last drink/driving conviction was more than 10 years ago.

Baxter, of Lauderdale Avenue, Dundee, was willing to take part in a rehabilitation programme.

Noting that it was his third for drink/ driving, Sheriff Wade said she wanted to make it “absolutely clear to him” that the Community Payback Order was an alternative to custody.

“That had been at the forefront of my mind,” she added.