Drink-driver said whisky was only used for toothache

Adriver who crashed after he had been drinking claimed the whisky he had been using as pain relief for his toothache was what put him over the limit.

Christopher Dwyer, 55, was nearly three times the limit when he went off the road and blamed the whisky he was using as an emergency antiseptic.

He told Perth Sheriff Court he had been using the spirit as a mouthwash, along with painkillers, for a damaged tooth, when he ran out of TCP.

The court was told that he had split a tooth and had been taking pain relief for a week when he ran out and had to start using whisky instead.

“That’s the only way I can explain why I was over the limit,” he told the court.

Dwyer, of Colquhalzie, Strathallan, was fined £400 and banned for 12 months when he admitted the drink-driving charge.

He admitted that on December 4, on the C468 b e twe e n Tr i n i t y Gask Pa rish Church and Dubheads, he drove with a reading of 58 mics. The limit is 22 mics.

The court was told that a witness contacted police at about 7.40pm to inform them that a vehicle had left the road.

Officers found Dwyer’s Volvo “partially lodged in bushes” at the side of the road.

“On checking it, Mr Dwyer was found to be asleep in the back. He was the sole occupant,” fiscal depute Sean Maher told the court.

Dwyer had to be woken up and wh e n o ff i c e r s brought him round he denied crashing the car and claimed it had “slid off the road”.

The court was told that he had finished work around 90 minutes beforehand and had taken a drink before ending up asleep with the car off the roadway.

That’s the only way I can explain why I was over the limit