Man missed unpaid work due to hangover

Young drinkdriver had been given community payback order but failed to appear

An “idiot” Angus drink-driver ordered to undertake community service has been slammed by a sheriff after failing to turn up for a work party because he was hungover.

Kieran Kirkwood was nearly five times the legal limit when he ploughed head-on into another car after coming off a roundabout the wrong way in the December 24 crash near the Forfar bypass.

The 21-year-old was banned from the road for 16 months and given 95 hours of unpaid work but appeared back in the dock at Forfar Sheriff Court on Thursday after admitting breaching his community payback order in what a sheriff said was “comprehensive” style.

In January, Kirkwood was told he was fortunate no-one had suffered a more serious injury than whiplash and a broken finger in the incident.

Kirkwood, of Elm Road, Kirriemuir, returned to court before Sheriff Gregor Murray and admitted breaching the CPO.

The sheriff told him: “I want to make several things clear to you. The first is that you were extraordinarily fortunate when you were first sentenced with the amount of unpaid work you were ordered to undertake on the CPO.

“Y o u h a v e b r e a c h e d i t comprehensively – left, right and centre.”

The sheriff said Kirkwood’s excuse was not acceptable.

“I don’t understand why you have to go out and get drunk and then be hungover and miss your unpaid work.”

He added: “What I intend to do is keep a very, very close eye on you over the next few months.

“I am prepared to revoke the order and impose an order for 150 hours’ unpaid work to be completed in the next six months.”

Kirkwood was also made subject to a three-month restriction of liberty order confining him to his home from 7pm to 7am daily.

Sheriff Murray told the accused: “There will be a review hearing in three months and if it is not going exactly as it should be, I will revoke the order and you will go to jail.”

The court previously heard Kirkwood told police: “Yeah, I lost it”, but also tried to blame the accident on the other driver before the full extent of his intoxication became clear in the custody suite after he had been taken to hospital to be checked over following the crash.

He pleaded guilty to driving on the A926 on December 24 with an alcohol reading of 103 microgrammes, against a legal limit of 22. Primary three pupils at Timmergreens Primary School in Arbroath took to the stage of the Webster Memorial Theatre for a special performance.

They were invited to perform as guests at the Angus Secondary Schools dance competition entitled Happiness. The pupils attend a weekly dance lunch club run by some of the school’s P7 girls.