Drink driver was four times limit

A Fife nightclub manager raised the alarm about a customer who drove home when he was four times over the drink drive limit.

Scott Pattinson had been drinking at the Harlem nightclub in Dunfermline before getting behind the wheel of a van.

Pattinson, 25, of Cleveland Drive, Inverkeithing, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court and admitted that on July 22 in Cleveland Drive he drove with 96 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 22 microgrammes.

Depute fiscal Joanne Smith told the court the accused had been drinking at the nightclub during the previous evening.

At 4.45am a call was made by the manager to the police to say a customer had left the club, got into a van and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

The police saw Pattinson driving in his own street, parking then getting out of the vehicle.

He failed a breath test at 5.10am and was arrested and taken to the police station.

Defence solicitor Peter Robertson said: “This has been a salutary lesson for him. He completely accepts responsibility. This was poor judgement and he is fully to blame.

“He had gone out and wasn’t intending to drink. He tells me he went to a gig and had one drink then carried on drinking from there.”

Sheriff Charles MacNair imposed a community payback order with 100 hours of unpaid work and banned him from driving for 16 months.